Tito Ortiz says he advised Cyborg to take UFC title fight, Cris’ camp denies it happened

Invicta FC featherweight champion Cris Cyborg was offered a fight for the the UFC’s maiden women’s 145-pound title. However, she declined, stating she would not be able to make the slated date, which was February 11th.

In a statement she released in early December, Cyborg said she wanted to allow her body to recover from the grueling weight cut she went through last September, and that she would be ready to fight again by March. But according to former UFC veteran Tito Ortiz, he still advised the Brazilian fighter to take the UFC’s offer.

“I told her to take the fight,” Ortiz told MMAjunkie. “She said, ‘Tito, I’ve been working really, really hard for the last three years. I’ve been cutting a lot of weight. I want to enjoy Christmas time. I want to go on vacation,’ and I understood that. Personally, I understood that.”

Cyborg’s team, however, denied speaking to Ortiz about the said fight. Representative Ray Elbe responded to Ortiz’s claims via text message, stating Cyborg “has not sought career advice from him in some time as he no longer plays a part in her management.”

The inaugural UFC women’s featherweight title bout will now be headlined by former bantamweight champion Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie. It will be taking place as the headliner of UFC 208 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.