During this afternoon’s UFC 222 open workouts, Cris Cyborg got the upper hand on retired legend BJ Penn in a brief, exhibition-style grappling exchange.
Saturday night’s UFC 222 may have gone through a major main event change when Max Holloway had to pull out of his fight with Frankie Edgar, but the replacement contest, Cris Cyborg vs. Yana Kunitskaya, still carries plenty of fan interest as fight night draws closer. While the 32-year-old women’s featherweight champion has demonstrated her ability to be a solid pay-per-view draw in past events when the shows have also featured other big names or title fights, this card could serve as a litmus test, of sorts, to determine that drawing power based almost solely on her name value alone.
During today’s open media workouts, Cyborg, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu brown belt, was joined on the mat by former UFC champion, Hawaiian grappling ace and fan favorite, B.J. Penn, in a mini exhibition-style rolling session. Cyborg was sparring with her striking coach, Jason Parillo, in front of several fans when a hoodie-clad Penn rushed out onto the mat for some quick exchanges that saw the P4P champ “unmask” The Prodigy as the crowd cheered them on. Luckily for us, MMA Fighting caught the whole thing on video.
So a mystery man crashed @CrisCyborg‘s #UFC222 Open Workout… (cough, cough @BJPenndotcom) pic.twitter.com/WkanWwtEc5
— MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) March 1, 2018
Cris Cyborg faces off against Yana Kunitskaya Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. It will mark the second defense of her 145lb belt. Make sure to catch all Bloody Elbow’s coverage right here: