With only one fight left on her current Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) contract, former women’s Featherweight champion Cris Cyborg is looking to lock down a new contract with the promotion.
That’s according to her manager Audie Attar, who told the Ariel Helwani MMA Show that Cris is hoping to return to action at the upcoming UFC 237 pay-per-view (PPV) event on May 11 in her hometown of Curitiba, Brazil.
“The hopes are we can get a new deal done with the UFC, but time will tell on whether that is achievable or not,” Attar said (via ESPN). “We haven’t received any official fight offer but she would love to fight in her hometown. We’ve had some soft discussions about her next fight and her future. She’d love to fight for the UFC.”
Cyborg previously teased a possible move away from the promotion if the two sides couldn’t come to an agreement, and has even hinted at venturing into the boxing world. But it seems one of the most dominant fighters ever is looking to stay home for the foreseeable future.
”Cris Cyborg is one of the biggest draws in MMA. And that is fact. Even in that last fight, she went in there and didn’t fight her fight and got caught, but it was still exciting to watch,” concluded Attar.
Indeed, Cris suffered a first round knockout loss to women’s Bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes at UFC 232 last December, her first defeat in 13 years (highlights). Still, UFC hasn’t officially committed on what its plans for a women’s Featherweight division will be, though that doesn’t seem to deter Cris.
That said, UFC and Cyborg’s ability to come to a new deal could be the deciding factor in what ultimately happens to the weight class moving forward.