The long-running feud between Cris Cyborg and Ronda Rousey rages on, even though a fight between the two remains a pipe dream. This comes on the heels of the kickoff press conference on Tuesday in Inglewood, California, for Rousey’s bout with Gina Carano on May 16, live on Netflix. During the presser, Carano looked back at her career, recalling her last fight and only career loss against Cris Cyborg in August 2009. This was the first five-minute, five-round fight in women’s MMA, fought for the inaugural Strikeforce women’s featherweight title. This prompted Ronda Rousey to lash out at her bitter rival, accusing Cyborg of cheating to beat Carano.

“Obviously, a cheating, roided-up b—h that totally cheated you out of your title,” Rousey declared. “That was deservingly yours. You’re too nice to say it, so I’m gonna say it: f—k her, and you’re the best.”

Cyborg, of course, didn’t stay silent for long and quickly took to X to defend herself.

“I had one failed test for PEDs in my 21 year career,” Cyborg wrote. “2011. 15 years ago. The sport was very different at that time, and I didn’t even speak English then. I had no idea the pills given to me in Brazil to ‘help lose weight’ were banned for athletes in the USA. I served my penalty. I learned a life lesson. I have been involved in Olympic-style testing for over 15 years without any other issues.

“I have proven I am a clean athlete… One thing I absolutely know is that you will say every mean thing in the world… but you won’t fight me. 🙏🏽 I pray one day you become happy in yourself.”

After knocking out Hiroko Yamanaka in just 16 seconds in 2011, Cyborg’s win was overturned to a no-contest after she tested positive for stanozolol metabolites. About five years later, in December 2016, this time in the UFC, an out-of-competition test flagged the presence of Spironolactone, a diuretic and masking agent prohibited at all times.

Cyborg and her team quickly identified the source as a medication prescribed by her physician following a severe weight cut in September. Thereafter, USADA granted Cyborg a retroactive Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE), and she was allowed to compete again. So when a comment on X brought up the same, she issued yet another clarification.

“I was in a new testing program called USADA. It’s the same program the Olympics use to catch cheaters,” Cyborg added on X. “They flagged a sample for a diuretic, which was medically required and provided zero performance-enhancing ability. My Dr was unfamiliar with the USADA process and had to complete a TUE. USADA issued an official statement that no wrongdoing occurred. Usada is hired to catch cheaters, and they said everything was legit 😉.”

With that, Cris Cyborg was done explaining herself and her past with PED controversies. Then she took shots at Rousey directly.

“I find the narcissism of Ronda Rousey to be charming,” Cyborg wrote on X. “There is no world where she does that tough girl talk and then actually fights me. @netflix 🙏🏽 @ginacarano you do move different. You are classy and genuine.”

Although the bitter rivals fought at the same time in the UFC, their time there very briefly overlapped in 2016. While Rousey retired from the sport in 2016 after her back-to-back losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes, Cyborg remained there till 2019 before moving on to other promotions. Still, their feud remained alive through social media exchanges. However, a fight between them never materialized.

For now, Rousey is slated to return to action after nine years on May 16 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. But she is not the only one. 

Cris Cyborg will fight before Ronda Rousey

Cris Cyborg is dominating in the cage lately, and she has chosen a different discipline to take over, one she is already familiar with—boxing. The 40-year-old is set to continue her pursuit of titles in boxing when she returns to the ring later this month. 

With an undefeated 7-0 record in professional boxing, the Brazilian-American will face Colombia’s Paulina Cardona for the WIBA super welterweight title. The 10-round contest will headline Nação Cyborg 15, a promotion owned by Cris Cyborg herself, on March 28 in Curitiba.

Cyborg’s last boxing match saw her stop Precious Harris-McCray via TKO in a 154-pound bout. A victory over Cardona would make Cyborg the first fighter to hold a major MMA and boxing title at the same time.

Her last MMA fight was back in December, when she captured the inaugural women’s featherweight title in PFL. She finished Sara Collins at the PFL Europe 4 event to extend her MMA winning streak to nine fights.

Clearly, both Ronda Rousey and Cris Cyborg are up to big things, but the pair can’t appear to stop beefing with each other. What did you think of their latest exchange?