Cris “Cyborg” Justino provided the latest example that she’s MMA‘s most dominant woman with a first-round TKO win over Yana Kunitskaya in UFC 222’s main event in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Cyborg wasted no time in charging across the Octagon and landing a big overhand right, but it allowed Kunitskaya to latch on to a leg and work the champion to the mat. Once they got back up, Kunitskaya controlled Cyborg against the fence.
The UFC showed the fight’s beginning moments on Twitter:
Then, things got ugly for the challenger.
As soon as Cyborg created space, she started doing what Cyborg does: destroying whoever is in front of her. She put Kunitskaya down with a strong combination and followed with ground strikes until the referee ended the fight.
It was a typical Cyborg performance. Mike Bohn of MMAjunkie put her dominance into context:
After the bout, Cyborg called for a matchup with UFC women’s bantamweight titleholder Amanda Nunes, per MMAFighting.com:
Cyborg’s victory was expected. She was a 1-8 favorite heading into the fight, according to OddsShark, and will continue to be in that position against every opponent.
This bout won’t do much for her legacy. The former Invicta and Strikeforce champion has crushed many fighters, but her lack of quality opponents is the only detraction on her resume.
The way Cyborg sees it, she proved she’s willing to take on anyone, anytime. She earned the win just 63 days after beating Holly Holm to close out 2017.
“You know fighters always say, ‘Anywhere, any time,’ but in reality we always know there’s going to be a long time between our fights,” Cyborg said, per Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times. “This is old school. I was taught to always stay prepared and be ready, and when they called me and said they’d like me to fight [Kunitskaya], I checked my weight and said, ‘Let’s do that; it’s a great opportunity.'”
Where she goes from here is hard to discern.
The women’s featherweight division was essentially created for her. There’s not even enough depth to have official UFC rankings.
The next big-money fight would be a matchup against her fellow Brazilian Nunes. A superfight between the featherweight and bantamweight titleholders would be easily marketable, and Nunes is interested in Cyborg next, per MMAjunkie.
Outside of that, fans will be left watching Cyborg crush inferior competition.
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