Despite an 11-year unbeaten streak with 15 knockouts, Cris Cyborg is still short on bargaining power.
In a recent appearance on FOX Sports' "Speak for Yourself," Cyborg - who's seen her recent wishes fall on selectively deaf ears - wondered aloud whether the UFC promotional machine would back her more if she had "blonde hair and blue eyes." Just a few days ago, president Dana White visited the show, where he stated the hard-hitting Brazilian was already a star in his estimation.
"Let me ask you a question: what makes somebody a star?" White said, according to MMAFighting. "What has been done with Ronda (Rousey) that hasn't been done with Cyborg, as far as being a star? Ronda is a world champion, had the belt, and everything else. We don't have a belt in that (featherweight) division. We don't have that weight division for Cyborg ... because there aren't enough good women at 145 pounds to create an entire division."
White's reluctance to create a women's featherweight division has left Cyborg little choice but to pull out all the stops – including birth control – to make a 140-pound catchweight for both her fights in the Octagon. The UFC boss admitted that despite her fan-friendly fighting style, the Invicta FC champion is not the household name longtime rival Ronda Rousey is - a blunder for which he readily took responsibility.
"Ronda Rousey makes a lot of money. She gets a lot of attention. She's doing movies. She has all kinds of other sponsorship deals and all these other things outside of the Octagon too. And listen, other people look at them and say, ‘Hey, I should have that too. Why do I not have that too?' And of course, that's my fault. You know what I mean? That's my fault because it's not happening."
Although Rousey is set to challenge women's bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes in her long-anticipated return at UFC 207 - much to Cyborg's dismay - White is still willing to do right by the knockout artist should the judoka get her hand raised.
"But the reality is this: Cris Cyborg is devastatingly good. She's been destroying everybody right now. Her popularity is actually starting to go (up). She's getting bigger. Everybody wants it right here, right now. It doesn't happen that way. I promise you this, Ronda has to come in and fight on Dec. 30. Okay? Ronda has to win, and the girl that she's fighting is no pushover. She's nasty and tough and Ronda's got a fight on her hands there.
"She wins that fight, her and Cris Cyborg are eventually going to fight. Ronda wants that fight. It will be the biggest pay-per-view in UFC history."
Cyborg has set the Twitterverse ablaze with her endless supply of call-outs to Rousey, and while she's offered to settle their longstanding beef on Superbowl weekend, White would not commit to a date.
The Brazilian most recently headlined UFC Fight Night 95 in her home country, where she demolished newcomer Lina Lansberg by second-round TKO. The card drew over 1.1 million viewers on FOX Sports 1, a network record for an event headlined by a women's fight.
