“Cyborg” spoke to Ariel Helwani on Monday’s episode of the MMA Hour about haters and the lifting of a suspension by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA)
Back in December, Justino was suspended following a positive test for Spironolactone, which is a drug which is known to commonly mask the use of steroids. Following an ongoing investigation, the Brazilian was found to be treating “common endocrine disorder” and was granted a retroactive therapeutic use exemption (TUE).
“Cyborg” is no stranger to accusations or implications that she has cheated in the past. UFC commentator Joe Rogan was among many who had spoken about Cyborg’s positive test, putting forth a scenario where former Invicta Featherweight Champion would likely be banned for a long time. A positive test for the banned substance stanozolol in 2011 will have undoubtedly been a stain on her record, but “Cyborg” still feels that the judgement was unwarranted:
“People judge before.The problem is that some media, they don’t know what’s going on. And a guy like Joe Rogan, who has six million followers [on Twitter], and these guys say I cheated and that I’m going to be banned for life, and then people believe that. People don’t wait to see the results, they judge.”
Another loud critic of Justino’s alleged involvement with performance-enhancing drugs is former UFC bantamweight champion, and one time mooted opponent, Ronda Rousey. “Cyborg” addressed Rousey’s comments, and suggested that “Rowdy” used this slur as a means to avoid fighting her:
“Ronda before, she speaked so much about me, and she tried to ruin my name and speak a lot of things,” said justino. “And I think five years she was doing this, because she wanted to avoid fighting me. And she tried make bad my name and that there was no need to fight me. But everybody can now see the reality. She lost her two fights, and didn’t come back until after one year after the loss to Holly Holm.
“Obviously I’m going to have haters. Man, I got to say I love my haters because they challenge myself…it challenges me. It challenges me to be better. It challenges me to show who I am, and that I deserve to be who I am.”
The Curitiba-born fighter is expected to face Germaine de Randamie following the lifting of the suspension first brought to attention back in December. “Cyborg” admitted that she had confidence that she would not face a lengthy ban, but criticised USADA’s process of making flags known to the media prior to ample investigation:
“It was a tough time, but I knew I did nothing wrong, I had not cheated.I lost a lot of public appearances, I lost sponsors, during the two-month investigation. But I’m happy, everything’s great now, and I have to say thank you to my team, to my lawyer, thank you to Jeff Novitzy who works for UFC who helped me and my team go through everything in the process.”
Helwani also asked Justino to describe her emotions once she was made aware that she was cleared to fight:
“I was really stressed about everything, because I did a mistake one time in my life, and then I learned a lot of things about this mistake,” she said. “And the one thing I learned the first time, just some people stay with you. This time, same thing. These are the people I really trust, who stay with me, and I appreciate everyone.”
