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She's a known cheat, likes to fight fighters smaller than herself and has had ample opportunities to make the fight happen. What does she do?? Hire Tito to negotiate with Zuffa and say she'd die if she tried to make 135.
Cyborg was pulled out of her Zuffa contract and signed with Invicta:
not because Ronda Rousey refused to fight her
not because the UFC wouldn't make the fight
but because of money and leverage. Tito Oritz decided that at that time (2013) with Cyborg coming off of a PED suspension he didn't have the proper leverage to get either a big money deal or concessions from the UFC about the fight weight. He thought that having Cyborg go to Invicta for a year or two would put a belt on Cyborg, have the UFC view the situation as a "Champion vs Champion superfight" scenario and that the two fighters would then be viewed by the UFC on a more equal plane. He never expected the surge in popularity of Ronda Rousey, thought UFC fans would quickly tire of her winning so easily, thought that female fighting in the UFC would be on the ropes, and thought the UFC would come crawling back to him and Cyborg to save it - or at least get one big payday out of it.
Tito:
I wanted to get it down, I tried to negotiate with Dana and make the fight happen in a four-fight deal with the UFC. They thought about it, they came back two days later and came back and said no, they want to do an eight-fight deal. There really wasn't no direction. Either way, we tried to make the (Rousey) fight happen and let Cris control her own fate. The UFC said we will sign her and see what happens. Who can accept that? Plus, he wasn't offering her what she really deserved as the other half of the super fight. As we control her fate, she wins the (Invicta) belt; she has a stronger reorganization for what her value is. Why shouldn't she benefit like Ronda in the UFC and from the fight? I think going to Invicta is the only way to make it happen. The UFC is only giving her one weight to make and that's 135, when she's been fighting at 145 for her entire career.
When Cris came to me. She said, ‘Tito, I'm a world champion. I have a leather belt around my waist with a gold medallion on it. I have nothing else. That's all I have. I'm sick of being poor. I am a world champion.' Word champions are supposed to be millionaires. World champions are supposed to put their lives on the line for millions of dollars that the promotions are making.
In the meanwhile, the UFC even found a way to make whatever money there is to make off of Cyborg's fights without even putting her in the UFC - they acquired the broadcast rights to Invicta so anybody that wants to see Cyborg fight has to pay for UFC Fight Pass.
Helluva job Tito.
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