Cristiane Justino (formerly surnamed Santos) is the current Bellator women's featherweight champion as well as the former women's featherweight champion of three other notable promotions: the UFC, Strikeforce and Invicta.
She most recently defended her title for the second time against Jan Finney in what many called the beatdown of 2010. Santos then went around a year without a fight, sitting on the shelf.
When her contract ran out with Strikeforce, Santos didn't resign and she vacated her title. She was officially a free agent and immediately began talks with another promotion. It was thought by many fans to be Bellator. The contract dispute was worked out between Santos and Strikeforce.
She next defended her Strikeforce belt against newcomer Hiroko Yamanaka, defeating Yamanaka via sixteen-second knockout. After the fight, Santos called out undefeated judo master Ronda Rousey. Instead, Santos tested positive for steroids in her post-fight urinalysis exams. She was then stripped of her Strikeforce women's featherweight title by UFC president Dana White.
After coming off her suspension and spending some time in negotiations with her UFC contract, Santos gave in to frustration over the Ronda Rousey issue. Her manager retired former UFC light-heavyweight 1champion Tito Ortiz asked the UFC to release her from the contract and they did.
Santos then quickly signed to make her Invicta debut against Ediane Gomes and instead debuted against Fiona Muxlow defeating Muxlow via first round technical knockout.
Santos next fought a rematch against Marloes Coenen for the inaugaral Invicta featherweight championship defeating Coenen via fourth round technical knockout to become the first Invicta featherweight champion.
Fights[]
- Cristiane Santos vs. Hitomi Akano - The fight was the Strikeforce and American debut of Hitomi Akano, and also the Strikeforce debut of Santos. Santos missed weight coming into the bout.
- Cristiane Santos vs. Gina Carano - The fight was for the first-ever Strikeforce women's championship at 145 pounds. The fight was Gina Carano's first loss.
- Cristiane Santos vs. Hiroko Yamanaka - The fight was the Strikeforce and North American debut of Hiroko Yamanaka and it was for the Strikeforce women's featherweight title with Santos defending. Santos was coming off a lay-off of eighteen months after contract disputes.
- Cristiane Santos vs. Fiona Muxlow - The fight was the Invicta debut of Santos.
- Cristiane Santos vs. Marloes Coenen 2 - The fight was for the inaugaral Invicta featherweight title.
- Cristiane Santos vs. Leslie Smith - The fight was the UFC debut of Santos at a catchweight.
- Cristiane Justino vs. Holly Holm - The fight was for the UFC women's featherweight title with Justino defending.
- Cristiane Justino vs. Leslie Smith 2 - The fight was for the Bellator women's featherweight championship with Cristiane 'Cyborg' Justino defending. It was a rematch of their first fight when Cyborg was making her UFC debut.
- Cristiane Justino vs. Sinead Kavanaugh - The fight was for the Bellator women's featherweight championship with Cristiane Justino defending.
- Cristiane Santos vs. Arlene Blencowe 2 - The fight was a rematch for the Bellator women's featherweight title with Cristiane Justino defending. It was the third overall attempt to win that title for Arlene Blencowe.