Germaine de RandamieFrank Franklin II/Associated Press
There are always reasons why. Peoplegive and receive excuses all the time. It's one of the things that human beings do to get along with the other human beings.But there's a layer, not too far below the epidermis, where excuses become something different.
Did the dog eat it? Maybe you'll be washing your hair that night? Perhaps you hear your mother calling.
It's not a matter of believability at that point. You're not actuallytrying to convince anyone of anything. Rather, the point is to get the request or the requester to do one thing and one thing only: go the hell away.
At this point, let's welcome Germaine de Randamie into the conversation.
You may know de Randamie (7-3) as the first person ever to hold the UFC women's featherweight belt. To do so, she defeated Holly Holmin a bout that saw de Randamie take heat for illegally striking Holm after the bell not once but twicein February at UFC 208.
In the cage immediately after the fight, de Randamie said of Holm and her stick-and-move, clinch-heavy strategy:It was close. But I came to fight, and she didnt want to fight me."
Moments later, broadcaster Joe Rogan asked de Randamie the million-dollar question, the one to which everyone just kind of assumed a foregone response. Did she, the new women's featherweight champ, want to fight the consensus best women's featherweight fighter, Cristiane "Cyborg" Justino?
"You know, I want to fight everybody," she said. "If Cris Cyborg is the one I have to fight, I'll fight her. Right now, I really need surgery on my hand. I'm gonna get surgery on my hand, and let's see after."
Not exactly the emphatic response fans and UFC brass (not to mention Cyborg) might have hoped for, but fair enough. Injuries happen. Fix it and come back strong, champ.
Oh, but wait. What's this? One day laterone day later!de Randamie called for an immediate rematch with Holm.
I have nothing but respect for Holly and the UFC, and because of that I want to say right now that I think I owe it to Holly and the fans to do this fight again to make sure that the winner of this historic belt is crystal clear, de Randamie wrote on Instagram.
No mention of Cyborg. Or the hand, for that matter.
Eventually the UFC booked Holm for a June bout in Singapore. So much for that immediate rematch. Team de Randamie countered bymumbling about retirementrumors and "personal issues."
A few hardy GDR believers, clinging to hope like kittens to fallen trees in a flood-swollen river (don't worry, they were rescued), might have gotten excited when UFC President Dana White said on May 15 that an update on the situation was coming soon and that "Cyborg will fight this summer." Could Cyborg-GDR finally be in the works?
That hope was all but dashedThursday, when de Randamie's manager, Brian Butler-Au of SuckerPunch Entertainment,told MMA Junkiethat de Randamie would not fight Cyborg because Cyborg was "a proven cheater."
That's an interesting statement from Team de Randamie. Yes, Cyborg failed a drug test in 2011, but de Randamie was caughtyou know, on camerapunching Holm after the horn just last February.
Ah, but the dog must have eaten their footage.
The final blow landed Monday when de Randamie announced that shedespite holding the 145-pound featherweight beltwould return to 135 pounds.
My reason to reject the fight now has nothing but nothing at all to do with my fear, she wrote. I believe that if you want to do sports you do this without any means that can affect the muscle mass. Ias a top athletealways trained, always watched my food and put 18 years of my life on sports, without using just one means that is not allowed.
Another reference to Cyborg's past PED use. Plenty of other fighters have come back from a failed drug test to compete again. Is there some reason that Cyborg is different? And if she felt so strongly about this principle that she would give up her championship beltthe one that caused her to shout out loud for joy when she received itwhy didn't she mention it at UFC 208?
Any attempt to look behind the curtains at UFC headquarters is like trying to read tea leaves in a glass of cement. However, it is not unrealistic to speculate that the UFC has incentives for champions to defend titles and placed a fairly substantial offer on the table for de Randamie to defend against Cyborg. GDR-Cyborg could headline a pay-per-view. That's a lot of money.(At a bare minimum, title defenses land you in the highest slots of any card, which in and of itself increases pay.)
Certainly Cyborg (17-1-1) is feared for a reason. She's probably the most devastating MMA fighterman or womanon planet earth right now.
De Randamie chose not to rise to that occasion, essentially relinquishing her championship so Cyborg could face Megan Anderson or some other more willing competitoranyone but her.
Whatever happens with de Randamie moving forward, the UFC should discipline her. Go ahead and strip her of the belt. Then perhaps banish her to the matchmaking land of wind and ghosts. Let her test the latest judo import on a deep Sao Paolo undercard. Should they cut her outright?
The UFC should be upset. Its brand-new division, fresh out of the gate, is now tarred with illegitimacy. Its first champion wouldn't fight the best. What kind of cloud does that put over this division, and over Cyborg, whom the UFC appears to (finally) view as the marketable, dominant athlete that she is?
It's more than just the one division, though. The UFC has devalued its own belts enough with all these interim titlesinterim this and interim thatessentially printing money from its own press to add short-term excitement to a division or an individual bout while causing harmful inflation over the long run. The UFC doesn't need fighters expediting that process.
Now, one might say, "Easy for you to say, keyboard warrior. You're not out here fighting for a living." And that's exactly right. If you're not a fighter, there's no pretense of toughness, at least not on this level. That illustrates why de Randamie, for whom such a pretense does exist, particularly given her champion status, should no longer be taken seriously, at least not unless there's a redemptive action.
As it is, it's like being a chef who doesn't like fire or a construction worker who doesn't like dirt or a kid with a dog who's unceasingly hungry for looseleaf.
Here is the original post:
Germaine de Randamie Should Be Punished for Running from Cyborg Justino - Bleacher Report
- Upload your Real body to a Virtual Avatar ! [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Transcendent Consciousness for Transcendent Technologies : Part I [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Transcendent Consciousness for Transcendent Technologies: Part II [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Visions of the Future [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Lessons from the Silver Surfer ! [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Playing God in a Video Game ! [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- The Rebellious Voyeur in our Society [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Renewable Energy and the New world [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Chennai Science Festival 2008 [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Cyborg Football Time ! [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Wont be posting for a while [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Spiritual Transcendence in Transhumanism now published [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Widgetize time ! [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- An Inconvenient Truth indeed ! - Google style [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- The latest Cyborg movie ! [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Lost in Transcendence : A Tribute to Dr.Albert Hofmann [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Who came first ? [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- How to truly become "BetterHumans" [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- A day in the life of a Transhuman Memestar [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- My Lonely Love [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- The First "body slaves" : how ready are we for the posthuman body ? [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Realizing our humble place in the posthuman civilization ! [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Brain controlled devices have come of age ! [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Touch and Go [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Cyborg Mystic [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Avatar..a great movie ! [Last Updated On: January 31st, 2010] [Originally Added On: January 31st, 2010]
- Iron Man 2 and the cyborg technology offshoots [Last Updated On: June 11th, 2010] [Originally Added On: June 11th, 2010]
- Saving the "Humanism" in Transhumanism [Last Updated On: June 13th, 2010] [Originally Added On: June 13th, 2010]
- Christina is Bionic [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2010] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2010]
- My recent article in IEET [Last Updated On: October 11th, 2010] [Originally Added On: October 11th, 2010]
- REASONS FOR LOVE AND HOPE TO OTHER SPECIES IN THE POSTHUMAN FUTURE [Last Updated On: February 14th, 2011] [Originally Added On: February 14th, 2011]
- Misleading Perceptions of Improving “The Human Condition” [Last Updated On: April 10th, 2011] [Originally Added On: April 10th, 2011]
- Jean-Claude Van Damme - CYBORG (1989) Part 1 - Video [Last Updated On: April 30th, 2012] [Originally Added On: April 30th, 2012]
- Cris Cyborg Spinning Back Kick KO - Video [Last Updated On: April 30th, 2012] [Originally Added On: April 30th, 2012]
- Cris Cyborg Suplexes way to Gold Medal Mundials (BJJ Worlds) 2011 - Video [Last Updated On: April 30th, 2012] [Originally Added On: April 30th, 2012]
- Cryptic Metal Gear Rising trailer lets you not understand the story right now [Last Updated On: May 10th, 2012] [Originally Added On: May 10th, 2012]
- 009 Re:Cyborg Anime Film's Live-Action Promo Streamed [Last Updated On: May 13th, 2012] [Originally Added On: May 13th, 2012]
- 009 Re:Cyborg's Extended "International Version" Trailer Posted [Last Updated On: May 13th, 2012] [Originally Added On: May 13th, 2012]
- Colourblind artist wants to be world’s first cyborg [Last Updated On: May 16th, 2012] [Originally Added On: May 16th, 2012]
- Moribito Designer Asou to Draw 009 Re:Cyborg Manga [Last Updated On: May 16th, 2012] [Originally Added On: May 16th, 2012]
- National Geographic announces its Emerging Explorers for 2012 [Last Updated On: May 16th, 2012] [Originally Added On: May 16th, 2012]
- Colourblind artist wants cyborg eye in Irish passport [Last Updated On: May 16th, 2012] [Originally Added On: May 16th, 2012]
- Week in science faces our cyborg future [Last Updated On: May 20th, 2012] [Originally Added On: May 20th, 2012]
- Gary Oldman - Gary Oldman Signs Up For Robocop Remake [Last Updated On: May 25th, 2012] [Originally Added On: May 25th, 2012]
- Gary Oldman joining 'RoboCop' remake [Last Updated On: May 25th, 2012] [Originally Added On: May 25th, 2012]
- Gary Oldman signs up for Robocop remake [Last Updated On: May 26th, 2012] [Originally Added On: May 26th, 2012]
- Supertrailer - The best trailers of the week packed into one cinematic video [Last Updated On: June 2nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: June 2nd, 2012]
- Policemen Undergo Stress Management Seminar [Last Updated On: June 3rd, 2012] [Originally Added On: June 3rd, 2012]
- Scott Coker Says Cyborg Vs Rousey at 135 Will Happen: Fan Reaction [Last Updated On: June 4th, 2012] [Originally Added On: June 4th, 2012]
- MMAFighting: Coker vows Cyborg-Rousey fight [Last Updated On: June 4th, 2012] [Originally Added On: June 4th, 2012]
- Would Ronda Rousey Beat Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos in a Fight? Fan's View [Last Updated On: June 5th, 2012] [Originally Added On: June 5th, 2012]
- Ronda Rousey vs. Cris Cyborg: Is the Biggest Fight Strikeforce Can Make [Last Updated On: June 5th, 2012] [Originally Added On: June 5th, 2012]
- Scott Coker on Ronda Rousey vs. Cyborg: "Cyborg Is a Whole Other Level" [Last Updated On: June 5th, 2012] [Originally Added On: June 5th, 2012]
- Rousey vs. Cyborg in January? 'She Wants My Arm, I Want Her Head': Fan's Look [Last Updated On: June 6th, 2012] [Originally Added On: June 6th, 2012]
- DIY cyborg appendage is less exciting than it sounds (video) [Last Updated On: June 8th, 2012] [Originally Added On: June 8th, 2012]
- Robot Chicken goes free range, Seth Green says [Last Updated On: June 9th, 2012] [Originally Added On: June 9th, 2012]
- Cyborg Fuel Cell Powered by Brain Fluids [Last Updated On: June 13th, 2012] [Originally Added On: June 13th, 2012]
- Hugh Laurie - Hugh Laurie To Play Robocop Villain [Last Updated On: June 13th, 2012] [Originally Added On: June 13th, 2012]
- Hugh Laurie set to play villain in Robocop remake [Last Updated On: June 13th, 2012] [Originally Added On: June 13th, 2012]
- Hugh Laurie is being lined up to star in 'RoboCop' [Last Updated On: June 14th, 2012] [Originally Added On: June 14th, 2012]
- CFT: Star recruit Henry decommits from Georgia [Last Updated On: June 15th, 2012] [Originally Added On: June 15th, 2012]
- Cris Cyborg and Sarah Kaufman Mean Mugging on Fight Promo Video: Fan Reaction [Last Updated On: June 18th, 2012] [Originally Added On: June 18th, 2012]
- Amped Shows the Downside of Becoming a Cyborg [Last Updated On: June 18th, 2012] [Originally Added On: June 18th, 2012]
- Is that really just a fly? Swarms of cyborg insect drones are the future of military surveillance [Last Updated On: June 19th, 2012] [Originally Added On: June 19th, 2012]
- Interior-Decorating Androids, Coming to a Living Room Near You [Last Updated On: June 19th, 2012] [Originally Added On: June 19th, 2012]
- A message for our cyborg drivers [Last Updated On: June 23rd, 2012] [Originally Added On: June 23rd, 2012]
- Cyborg system stifles your need to drink water [Last Updated On: June 24th, 2012] [Originally Added On: June 24th, 2012]
- Cyborg makes art using seventh sense [Last Updated On: June 30th, 2012] [Originally Added On: June 30th, 2012]
- A Surgical Implant for Seeing Colors Through Sound [Last Updated On: July 2nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: July 2nd, 2012]
- My life as a cyborg [Last Updated On: July 2nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: July 2nd, 2012]
- Making Location Services Slick & Simple [Last Updated On: July 2nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: July 2nd, 2012]
- Cyborg Gaming Mouse [Last Updated On: July 5th, 2012] [Originally Added On: July 5th, 2012]
- Nightwing And Cyborg Join Cast Of Injustice [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2012] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2012]
- Nightwing and Cyborg coming to Injustice: Gods Among Us [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2012] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2012]
- See Cyborg and Nightwing in 'Injustice: Gods Among Us' [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2012] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2012]
- SDCC 2012: Nightwing and Cyborg Join 'Injustice: Gods Among Us' [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2012] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2012]
- NEWS: Cyborg and Nightwing Revealed for Injustice: Gods Among Us [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2012] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2012]
- 'Injustice' reveals Cyborg and Nightwing [Last Updated On: July 13th, 2012] [Originally Added On: July 13th, 2012]
- Human Cyborg: McDonald’s Employees Assaulted Me For Wearing My Gear [Last Updated On: July 17th, 2012] [Originally Added On: July 17th, 2012]
- Do Not Anger the Cyborg, People! [Last Updated On: July 17th, 2012] [Originally Added On: July 17th, 2012]