Dana White says Cris Cyborg turned down two featherweight title shots, fighter hits out at UFC claim

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White has revealed that Cris 'Cyborg' Justino turned down two opportunities for a fight for the inaugural featherweight championship in the women's division but the Brazilian has hit out at UFC for not explaining her medical condition at the time.

Cyborg, who made her debut with the promotional company earlier this year, has in the past struggled to cut her weight, after repeatedly asking the UFC to create a 145-pound division for women. The Brazilian had even threatened to leave the company if such a weight category was not created.

"What's crazy about that is this, I offered Cris Cyborg a title fight at 145 pounds a month ago. She had eight weeks to get ready for it, she said she couldn't make the weight, said she couldn't make 145 pounds. So then I offered her another 145-pound title fight for Brooklyn (UFC 208), she turned it down. She turned down two 145-pound title fights. One because she said she couldn't make 145 pounds in eight weeks, and Joe Silva's like, 'If she can't make 145 pounds in eight weeks, 145 isn't the right weight class for her either", White said, as quoted by MMAFighting.

"First we offered her the fight against Holly Holm and then we offered her the fight against Germaine. There is no excuse. She just turned the fight down."

The 31-year-old Brazilian, who has won both her fights in the UFC promotional company, however, has hit out at the authorities in a lengthy statement, claiming that the weight cut almost killed her and slammed the company for not explaining her medical condition.

"In my last weight cut, I almost died. I was in the bathtub cutting weight, and I thought, 'I will die in this bathtub.' It was the worst weight cut of my life. My nutritionist George Lockhart, who by the way, is a UFC employee, didn't do an effective job with this birth control pill he indicated saying that would help me. But thank God, in a war, I made weight, cutting 24 pounds in a week. My body was retaining a lot of water. The last time I spoke with George Lockhart was in the locker room before my fight. He disappeared after the fight. I'm not working with him anymore."

Former Bantamweight champion Miesha Tate had recently voiced her support for the creation of more weight divisions for women fighters within the UFC, with the company at present having only two divisions i.e the strawweight (115 pounds) and bantamweight (135 pounds.)