Thirteen years after losing her mixed martial arts (MMA) debut, Cris Cyborg suffered just the second loss of her professional career on Saturday night (Dec. 29, 2018) after she was knocked out by Amanda Nunes in a little less than one minute at the UFC 232 pay-per-view (PPV) event in Inglewood, California.
Naturally, after sitting on top of the women’s Featherweight division for so long, Cyborg wants an instant chance to reclaim her strap against “Lioness,” declaring during the UFC 232 post-fight press conference (video replay here) that she is more than willing to run it back right away.
“Of course. I can rematch [Nunes] any time Dana White wants to put it together. I love fighting and this has put more fire in my heart to continue fighting. Of course, of course, and Jorina Baars I want to rematch, too. I always say this,” she said via MMA Fighting.
“When I stop fighting MMA, I want to go to Muay Thai and rematch her. I never, when I go step in the cage, say I want to prove something. I like to improve. I like to get better and continue training. And after this fight, for sure, I’m going to train harder.”
While an immediate rematch would make sense given Cyborg’s dominant reign, it has the potential of tying up both the 145-pound and 135-pound weight classes should a trilogy fight be necessary to break a possible tie.
But, according to Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White, an instant do-over simply isn’t in the cards given the clear-cut victory from Nunes.
“I don’t think you do. I mean, it was a pretty convincing win.… I gotta get back in the lab and figure it out [what’s next for Cyborg], but we’ll come up with something for her,” he said after the fight.
Of course, that may raise a few eyebrows, as Joanna Jedrzejczyk was gifted an immediate rematch against Rose Namajunas after “Thug Rose” dismantled “JJ” pretty handily. And let’s not forget Ronda Rousey was given a title fight in her first bout back after getting brutally knocked out by Holly Holm, only to get destroyed by the aforementioned Nunes in 48 seconds in her return match.
On an interesting note, Cyborg is a free agent once March rolls around, so if UFC doesn’t tempt her enough to re-up with them with either more money or the promise of a title fight, don’t be surprised if Cyborg bolts for another promotion or finally scratches boxing off her bucket list.
For complete UFC 232 results, including play-by-play, click here.