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The long talked-about women’s featherweight title fight between champion Cris Cyborg and Holly Holm is officially on.
The UFC tonight announced that the bout has been booked for UFC 219, which takes place Dec. 30 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and airs on pay-per-view. It’s uncertain if the showdown will serve as the main event.
Arriving here has been quite the journey.
Cyborg (18-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) and Holm (11-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC) have feuded for weeks on social media, seemingly hyping a fight that once felt inevitable. But then last week Holm’s longtime manager, Lenny Frequez, told MMAFighting.com the deal is “dead” after he and the promotion “could not come to financial terms.”
Cyborg’s manager, George Prajin, told MMAjunkie in response that Holm was intentionally “pricing herself out,” because she didn’t want to fight Cyborg.
“The big fights are the ones you want as a fighter,” Prajin said. “Those lead to the most money. I can’t speak for her camp. All I can say is that Cris has agreed to the fight.”
Things have changed obviously now with the official booking.
UFC President Dana White all along was optimistic about getting a deal done, despite Holm expressing concerns over drug testing that eventually spilled into a social media fight in which Cyborg and Holm verbally sparred over the issue.
Cyborg complained she’s been targeted by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and questioned whether Holm’s camp – which she claimed had perpetuated more doping violations than any other camp – was under the same scrutiny. Holm shot back a video reply pointing out she’d actually been tested on more occasions in the most recent quarter of the year.
Now, after weeks of fighting through the media, the two women will finally face off in the cage.
Cyborg will attempt to make her first successful title defense after winning the vacant belt with a TKO of Tonya Evinger in July at UFC 214. Holm, the former women’s bantamweight champion, most recently knocked out Bethe Correia in June to snap a three-fight losing streak.
Holm was given the first shot at the newly created women’s 145-pound title earlier this year at UFC 208 but dropped a unanimous decision to Germaine de Randamie, who later vacated the belt after refusing to defend it vs. Cyborg.
The latest UFC 219 card includes:
- Champ Cris Cyborg vs. Holly Holm – for women’s featherweight title
- Edson Barboza vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov
- Jimmie Rivera vs. TBA
- Cynthia Calvillo vs. Carla Esparza
- Matheus Nicolau vs. Louis Smolka
- Carlos Condit vs. Neil Magny
- Khalil Rountree vs. Gokhan Saki
- Rick Glenn vs. Myles Jury
- Emil Meek vs. Kamaru Usman
- Marc Diakiese vs. Dan Hooker
For more on UFC 219, visit the UFC Rumors section of the site.
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