Cris Cyborg and Cat Zingano will finally get to settle their differences after years of building up a potential title fight this Saturday night (Oct. 7, 2023) when they collide in the co-main event of Bellator 300 in San Diego, Calif. in a women’s Featherweight title fight.
Since making the jump over from Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in Sept. 2020, Zingano has won four straight inside the Bellator cage, which earned her a second shot at winning a major world title after coming up short in her first and only shot at UFC gold, losing to Ronda Rousey in just 14 seconds at UFC 184.
This time around, Zingano says her life is in a completely different place.
“My life was completely different,” Zingano said during a recent pre-fight press conference (via MMA Junkie). “There was really a lot more survival going on at that time. Time is really the benefit to things, finding my rhythm again, just figuring out coaches, figuring out the new normal for me, and getting it dialed in.”
Zingano left UFC losing four of her last five fights, including the defeat to “Rowdy.” But she’s had a completely different run with Bellator, and is now ready to put the cherry on top by becoming just the third person to defeat Cyborg.
And while the current women’s Featherweight champion has built up a Terminator-like reputation for herself, Zingano says she poses dangers to the hard-hitting Brazilian in every aspect of the fight game.
“Everything. Skill, all the different disciplines, the years of experience, my will, my grit, my speed. Everything.”
Cyborg hasn’t tasted defeat since coughing up her UFC women’s Featherweight title to Amanda Nunes at UFC 232 in Dec. 2018, winning six in a row including her first five fights with Bellator, capturing the strap in 2020 and defending it twice since then.
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