Cris Cyborg made her UFC debut Saturday after three years of work outside the UFC’s promotional umbrella. Despite dominating Leslie Smith at UFC 198, defeating the former Invicta FC title contender in just 81 seconds, one big question loomed: Why wasn’t Cyborg fighting a bigger name?
Former bantamweight champion Holly Holm is one of the names that fans floated around as a potential opponent for Cyborg. When Holm‘s manager, Lenny Fresquez, told the media that Holm had been offered the fight and had turned it down, some wondered why that may have been. Well, after a month of relative silence, Holm opened up about Cyborg and her own future in MMA.
“I was just kind of holding on to see if I could get the rematch for the belt,” Holm said in an interview with 120 Sports‘ Dave Ross (h/t Marc Raimondi of MMAFighting.com for the transcription). “I’m not against fighting Cyborg. It just didn’t seem like the right time.”
Holm famously took the UFC title in a shocking upset of Ronda Rousey at UFC 193, but lost it just a few months later at UFC 196 when she was submitted by Miesha Tate. Since then, Holm has been caught in the middle of an ugly back-and-forth between her manager and UFC brass, and has been put into a high-risk, low-reward bout with the relatively unknown Valentina Shevchenko at UFC on Fox 20.
Despite that, her eyes remain fixed on retaking the UFC title…though she isn’t above taking a detour to face Cyborg. “In boxing, I fought in three weight classes,” Holm told Ross. “I’m not gonna say that I’m against going at 140…But that’s definitely something that could be an option for the future. I’m actually really happy for her victory. I really like Cyborg. I think she’s a great gal.”
It is unknown what currently lies ahead for Cyborg, but Fox Sports 1’s UFC Tonight reported (h/t MMAjunkie) the UFC is looking to match her against Germaine de Randamie at UFC 201 (a claim which Cyborg denies). Either way, a Cyborg vs. Holm bout would be an incredibly compelling one between two contrasting strikers, and it’s one fans should keep their fingers crossed about.
The first step towards making that fight a reality, however, lies in Holm defeating Shevchenko in July.
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