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Rener Gracie: Cris Cyborg gets more credit than she deserves

By Josh Sanchez

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Rener Gracie, a cornerman for UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, believes Cris Cyborg is getting more credit than she deserves as a threat to Rousey’s throne.

Ronda Rousey vs. Cris Cyborg. That is the fight that everyone who is a fan of mixed martial arts wants to see.

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But will it ever happen?

It would appear that we are closer than we have ever been before to a Rousey vs. Cyborg superfight, but there is still plenty of work that needs to be done.

First, Cris Cyborg needs to make weight.

While Cyborg is willing to fight Rousey at a catchweight of 140 pounds, the UFC and Ronda seem unwilling to make that compromise. Instead, they want to see Cris Cyborg make the full cut to the women’s bantamweight division — ten pounds under where she currently fights.

If she is able to do that, many people believe Cyborg will be the biggest threat to Rousey’s throne.

One of those people that doesn’t believe Cyborg can take it to Rousey, however, is Rener Gracie, Rousey’s jiu-jitsu coach and son of UFC co-founder Rorion Gracie.

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    • In fact, Gracie believes people are giving Cyborg too much credit.

    “I think people are giving Cris ‘Cyborg’ more credit than she deserves, in the sense of beating Ronda,” Gracie told Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com on The MMA Hour.

    “No offense to her, she’s obviously an amazing athlete and has done amazingly well in MMA, and from what I hear is a great person as well. This is just me personally, I know what it feels like to roll with a very athletic, strong person. People say rolling with Cris ‘Cyborg’ is like rolling with a man, you don’t have to go easy, you’re rolling very hard. And I’ve rolled with a lot of world class men, martial arts, jiu-jitsu, MMA, and I know what they feel like. Ronda doesn’t feel like them.

    “That’s the whole point. She’s beyond. I don’t say rolling with Ronda is like rolling with a man. I’ve never said those words and I never will. Rolling with Ronda is like rolling with an alien.”

    We will never know how competitive the fight will be until the two women eventually face off inside of the cage — if they ever do. What we do know, however, is that plenty of people will be tuning in if a Ronda Rousey vs. Cris Cyborg fight ever takes place.

    Do you think Cyborg could defeat Rousey? Sound off in the comments section below with your thoughts and predictions.

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