Las Vegas police confirm battery citation to UFC’s Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino
UFC standout Cris “Cyborg” Justino is still waiting to find out her next opponent in the cage, but that didn’t stop her from allegedly fighting in Las Vegas over the weekend.
Metro spokesman Larry Hadfield confirmed to the Review-Journal the 31-year-old fighter was cited Sunday for misdemeanor battery stemming from an incident at outside the JW Marriott at 221 N. Rampart Blvd.
Social media accounts indicate Justino punched fellow female fighter Angela Magana after confronting the strawweight about several derogatory Twitter posts. That version of events has been confirmed by multiple sources.
A video circulating on the internet appears to show the confrontation, though the alleged punch was obstructed by onlookers.
Hadfield said officers responded to the scene and cited Justino after talking to several witnesses. The police report, which is not currently public, indicates the incident occurred around 2:30 p.m.
The fighters were in town for an athlete retreat, which included approximately 300 fighters from the organization attending several functions and seminars at the resort.
Magana posted a picture of herself on social media showing she still had all her teeth in place after taking a punch from Justino, one of the most feared female strikers in mixed martial arts history.
Lets be clear I did not call cops UFC did. But I decided to press charges after speaking with them. I have my teeth pic.twitter.com/BKrAMpz8Sy
— Angela Magana (@AngelaMagana1) May 22, 2017
She also denied calling police, claiming multiple witnesses called after watching the altercation.
“I was the victim of roid rage today. Hope it was worth your job,” Magana posted on Twitter. “Rude tweets don’t give you a license to battery people.”
TMZ, which first reported the story, said Magana went to the hospital and was diagnosed with “acute head injury, cervical strain and laceration of the lip.”
Magana, 33, called the report “grossly inaccurate.” She also reposted on Monday a tweet from last month that compared Justino’s face to the mask from the horror movie, “Saw.”
Justino, who has not competed since September as she was dealing with a potential anti-doping policy violation for which she was eventually granted a retroactive therapeutic-use exemption, was not arrested when she was issued the citation.
She has been expected to get either a featherweight title shot against Germaine de Randamie or an interim title bout should de Randamie be out of action for an extended period of time with a lingering hand injury and reported personal issues.
UFC officials declined comment on the incident.
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Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-277-8028. Follow @adamhilllvrj on Twitter.