Cris ‘Cyborg’ says UFC recommended birth control pills that nearly killed her
Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino says a UFC nutritionist recommended birth control pills that wrecked her health.
Justino beat Lisa Lansberg in a September fight, and the pills she says were pushed on her by UFC employee George Lockhart to cut weight for the fight wound up having dangerous consequences after her victory.
“After all this, I went back to my hometown,” Justino told MMAFighting.com. “My mother gave me tea and I fell asleep. The next day, like I always do after my fights, I did blood tests to see if everything was OK after a terrible weight cut. And for the first time, the nurses couldn’t take my blood, it was so thick it wouldn’t come out, so we couldn’t do tests. I was in treatment for 10 days with Dr. Ulisseia. I was in observation because I was feeling sick all the time.”
Justino said it was no easier in the lead-up to the fight.
“In my last weight cut I almost died. I was in the bathtub cutting weight, and I thought, ‘I will die in this bathtub.’ It was the worst weight cut in my life,” Justino wrote. “My nutritionist George Lockhart, who, by the way, is a UFC employee, didn’t do an effective job with this birth control pill he indicated saying that would help me. But thank God, in a war, I made weight, cutting 24 pounds in a week. My body was retaining a lot of water. The last time I spoke with George Lockhart was in the locker room before my fight. He disappeared after the fight.”
She added that she plans to fight again in March, saying the UFC wanted her to continue fighting at a lower weight — 140 pounds — but that she only wants to fight at 145 from here.
“After that, they invited me to fight again, but this time at my weight and for the belt, but with 10 weeks’ notice. Knowing that I was recovering, like I said, I told them I can fight anyone in March, but I need to take care of my body, and no mention of the fact that I’m dealing with severe depression and can’t have another brutal weight cut like before. This decision is more important than the belt or the division, I’m thinking about my health.”
