Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz is a longtime friend and training partner of UFC Women’s Featherweight Champion Cyborg.
According to Ortiz, the face of women’s should have been Cyborg all along and never former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey.
“You know, I really do (think Cyborg should be the face of women’s MMA),” Ortiz told Submission Radio. “It’s just that I think Cris is more of a true person. You know, she really doesn’t let her head get to her. She’s very calm, collective and very mellow-mannered person. She’s an awesome woman. She doesn’t get cocky, she doesn’t treat people bad. Cris is a true champion. She’s a true people’s champion. She goes out of her way to help people, and that’s what champions are made of, and that’s what Cris is made of.”
Cyborg and Rousey have been rivals for years, although they never faced each other during their time in Strikeforce or the UFC.
Ortiz would even go as far as to say that Rousey was nothing more than a flash in the pan.
“Yeah, that’s what’s going to happen to Cris Cyborg 100 percent. She is going to be the face of women’s MMA. She should have been a long time ago, she’s gonna be now,” Ortiz said. “You know, Ronda was a flash in the pan. And nothing against her, she was a great champ at the time, but when you’re getting hand-fed opponents, it is what it is. But Cris is not a person to submit people and give them an opportunity to do it again, she’s a person to knock people out – as you heard tonight at the press conference, people comparing her to a Mike Tyson.”
A potential Cyborg versus Rousey fight could still be in the cards, as Rousey has yet to make any announcement regarding her future in MMA.
