White: 'We've made some mistakes when it comes to Cyborg'
Cris Cyborg's 13 months in the UFC haven't exactly been peachy, and Dana White is shouldering some of the blame for it.
Speaking to MMAjunkie earlier this week, the UFC president admitted the promotion's relationship with the featherweight star has been a tumultuous one, and thought it only right to book her in a divisional title bout, first against Megan Anderson, now against Tonya Evinger on July 29 at UFC 214.
"She’s had a rough go here in the UFC," White said, according to Matt Erickson and John Morgan. "She hasn’t been thrilled with things that have been said, things that have been done. And to be honest with you, we’ve made some mistakes when it comes to Cyborg. So the least we can do is get our (expletive) together and get this woman a fight for the title."
True to White's words, Cyborg has had a rough go in the world's preeminent outfit. Despite her well-documented weight management struggles, the Brazilian had to cut down to 140 pounds - five below her normal fighting weight - for her pair of UFC bouts, both of which she won by stoppage.
Things didn't get much smoother from there, as Cyborg later opted to recover from the grueling weight cuts while career bantamweights Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie fight for a title widely believed to be hers at UFC 208.
A run-in with strawweight Angela Magana at the UFC Athletes Retreat this spring certainly didn't sweeten her stint, but with the featherweight title now vacated due to de Randamie's refusal to fight Cyborg, White intends to do right by the Brazilian, an uncrowned champion in his eyes.
"We signed Cyborg, we made a commitment to Cyborg, and not everything is easy and not everything is as fun as other divisions or whatever, but we made a commitment to this woman," White said.
"We make it very clear: When you go into that division, you know who you’re going to be fighting. Basically, Cyborg owns that division. You go into the 145-pound division and you’re fighting for a belt, you’re going to fight Cyborg."
Cyborg will meet Evinger at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.