Create a free account to unlock this article! Get Started Already a subscriber? Log In

The women's featherweight title has been active in the UFC for less than a year, but it's already been through more crazy turns than just about any of the promotion's other belts.



Starting with the odd choice not to book Cris "Cyborg" Justino in the main event of UFC 208 in February, the featherweight division then had a controversial decision between Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie that crowned its first champion. In less than five months, de Randamie was stripped of the belt for refusing to fight Cyborg, and a matchup with Megan Anderson was slated to determine the new champion.



As fate would have it, that bout also fell through, which led to Invicta bantamweight champion Tonya Evinger being tapped to step in with the Brazilian wrecking machine Justino at UFC 214 on July 29 in Anaheim, CA.



Evinger, the fighter at the end of that whirlwind, joined the boys at the Top Turtle MMA podcast to discuss the matchup. While there, she shared her thoughts on the UFC stripping the first 145-pound women's champion.



"It's one of those things that I think has to happen if you refuse to fight people," Evinger said in reference to de Randamie's situation and UFC President Dana White's decision.



"I think when you're champion you should fight everybody that's put in front of you. You're the champion, you're supposed to be the best there is. That's how I live my career, and I think that's probably how Cyborg lives her career; we fight everybody who's put in front of us."



But it's not just a relentless pursuit to fight the best that entices Evinger. She also loves the fight from an excitement and a matchup standpoint.



"I'm excited to have the opportunity to jump in there and take this fight," Evinger said. "I think it's a great opportunity. I think it's a huge fight, and I believe it's a great matchup of two dominant champions. I think I'm a great option to throw in there against her."



While Cyborg's previous failed drug tests deterred the former champion de Randamie from taking a fight, Evinger doesn't see her opponent's speckled past as all that big of a deal.



"People have popped for all kinds of stuff, and not just Cris, several girls in the sport for many different reasons and many guys for many different reasons," Evinger said. "At the end of the day, she's in the division, she's fighting, she signed with the UFC, and she's passing her drug tests now. Bring up the past and old reasons isn't going to deter me from fighting her."



And to Evinger, de Randamie making excuses is pointless and fighting only comes down to one thing.



"She's there and she's in the game," Evinger said. "She's on the board. So you either fight her or you don't and you can make whatever reason you want to, but what it comes down to is that you just didn't want to fight her."



