Cyborg: I lost public appearances, sponsors during doping investigation

Cris Cyborg may have gotten her name cleared, but it came at a cost.

The USADA recently cleared the featherweight of a potential doping violation with a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) retroactive to a failed December drug test, but as she told Ariel Helwani on "The MMA Hour" Monday, what Cyborg gained in justice, she lost in opportunities and revenue.

"It was a tough time, but I knew I did nothing wrong, I had not cheated," she said, per MMA Fighting's Chuck Mindenhall.

"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."

The 31-year-old tested positive for anabolic steroids while fighting under the Strikeforce banner in 2011, and with many inclined to believe that "once a cheater, always a cheater," the Brazilian told Helwani she'd felt condemned as soon as she'd been flagged by the UFC's anti-doping partner.

"People judge before. The problem is that some media, they don’t know what’s going on. And a guy like (UFC commentator) 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."

And yet, Cyborg couldn't help but express her relief at being exonerated, and credited her inner circle with getting her through her latest trial.

"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. 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."