Late last month, Cris Cyborg finally had a UFC title wrapped around her waist. For years, the Brazilian has been considered to be one of the very best female fighters on the planet, and at UFC 214 (July 29, 2017), she became the undisputed UFC women’s featherweight champion with a third round stoppage victory over […]
Late last month, Cris Cyborg finally had a UFC title wrapped around her waist.
For years, the Brazilian has been considered to be one of the very best female fighters on the planet, and at UFC 214 (July 29, 2017), she became the undisputed UFC women’s featherweight champion with a third round stoppage victory over the tough Tonya Evinger.
Now, Cyborg has her sights set on her first title defense, and she’d like that to take place at UFC 219, which is set for Dec. 30, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada, against ex-bantamweight champion Holly Holm:
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Holm famously knocked out Ronda Rousey at UFC 193 in Nov. 2015 to become the UFC 135-pound champion, but she then went on to lose three straight bouts to the likes of Miesha Tate, Valentina Shevchenko and Germaine de Randamie. The loss to de Randamie came in the inaugural women’s featherweight title fight at UFC 208 earlier this year.
Prior to her victory over Evinger, Cyborg had scored back-to-back stoppage victories over Leslie Smith and Lina Lansberg in 140-pound catchweight bouts.
Are you interested in seeing Cyborg and Holm face off?
Leading into UFC 214, Cris Cyborg already had her next fight in mind and coming out of the event, she still wants to fight former UFC bantamweight champion Holly Holm. After scoring a third round TKO victory of former Invicta bantamweight titleholder Tonya Evinger on the main card of 214 to win the promotion’s featherweight […]
Leading into UFC 214, Cris Cyborg already had her next fight in mind and coming out of the event, she still wants to fight former UFC bantamweight champion Holly Holm.
After scoring a third round TKO victory of former Invicta bantamweight titleholder Tonya Evinger on the main card of 214 to win the promotion’s featherweight title on Saturday night, the newly crowned champion told FOX Sports 1 that Holm made the most sense in terms of her next assignment.
“My next move, I’d like a fight with Holly Holm,” said Cyborg (transcript courtesy of MMA Fighting). “I think she is a great fighter and she is a bigger girl, just like me. She’s (fought) already at 145. I think it’s a fight that all fans are going to like because she is a striker. Let’s do that, maybe next year, I don’t know.”
During the UFC 214 post-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White claimed that Holm was “interested” in a showdown with Cyborg.
“I was just talking to Holly Holm back there…and it seems like she’s interested,” said White. “I like Holly versus Cyborg. I think it’s a good fight.”
Although there are not many fighters in the women’s featherweight division, Cyborg believes that the weight class will go the same way that the bantamweights evolved during Ronda Rousey’s reign as champion.
“It was the same with 135 pounds, (UFC) started with Ronda and then they started building it a little bit and a little bit (more). Now they’ve made it a division. I think with 145 it will be the same,” Cyborg said at the event’s post-fight press conference.
“I’m happy to be a part of this. I’m happy to fight anyone that the UFC put in front of me. I am going to keep training, keep ready. I’ll keep training, keep on beating the number one contender and always training to keep the belt.”
If you recall, Megan Anderson was supposed to be Cyborg’s opponent at the event, but that bout was scrapped due to the former Invicta featherweight champion having to withdraw from the bout because of personal reasons.
Cyborg stated that she would be open to fighting Anderson in Australia next year.
“I don’t know about Megan,” she said. “I accepted a fight with her. I don’t know if she cannot fight in the USA, maybe I can go to Australia and fight with her. I want to fight. I don’t know who it’s going to be (next). I never choose my opponents. I just wait to see who UFC is going to put next.”
We are now just one day away from the biggest UFC fight card of the year thus far, as UFC 214 is set to take place this Saturday night (July 29, 2017) live on pay-per-view (PPV) from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The card will feature a staggering three title fights, with the main […]
We are now just one day away from the biggest UFC fight card of the year thus far, as UFC 214 is set to take place this Saturday night (July 29, 2017) live on pay-per-view (PPV) from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
The card will feature a staggering three title fights, with the main event playing host to the long-awaited and highly anticipated rematch between light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier and longtime former divisional ruler Jon Jones. In the co-main event, welterweight king Tyron Woodley will defend his title against grappling guru Demian Maia. Finally, Cris Cyborg and Tonya Evinger will also do battle for the vacant women’s featherweight title in an unprecedented third title fight on the card.
That’s not all for the main card, however, as fan favorites Robbie Lawler and Donald Cerrone will face off at welterweight, while light heavyweight contenders Jimi Manuwa and Volkan Oezdemir will also do battle. Both fights hold major title implications in their respective divisions.
Without further ado, let’s take a deeper look into the card we’ve all been waiting for:
Daniel Cormier vs. Jon Jones
Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones possess one of the deepest rivalries in the history of the sport, but when they first met at UFC 182 in Jan. 2015, Jones scored a one-sided decision victory.
Since then, due to Jones’ legal and personal issues, Cormier has claimed the undisputed title, won four straight bouts, and successfully defended that title twice. Sure, Jones has only competed once since his initial meeting with “DC”, but it’s also true that Cormier has only gotten older in that time, while Jones still sits in the prime of his career at age 30.
At the end of the day, this bout will feature the two best light heavyweights on the planet facing off, but in my opinion, Jones is simply the best 205-pounder in the world, and arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world period.
At UFC 182, Jones was superior to Cormier in every aspect of fighting. He out-struck Cormier on the feet, while doing great damage to his body. He was more successful in the clinch, and he even out-wrestled the former Olympian.
I expect a similar fight this time around.
Prediction: Jon Jones def. Daniel Cormier via unanimous decision
On July 29, 2017, Cris Cyborg will finally get the chance to fight for a UFC title, as she’ll take on Tonya Evinger for the vacant featherweight strap at UFC 214 in Anaheim, California. The Brazilian is currently 2-0 inside the Octagon, although her relationship with the UFC has not always been a positive one. […]
On July 29, 2017, Cris Cyborg will finally get the chance to fight for a UFC title, as she’ll take on Tonya Evinger for the vacant featherweight strap at UFC 214 in Anaheim, California. The Brazilian is currently 2-0 inside the Octagon, although her relationship with the UFC has not always been a positive one.
Recently speaking on the matter, Cyborg made it clear that she’d like to ‘work together’ with the UFC:
“I think people want to watch me in UFC. If I’m in an event, I am going to do my best and my star is going to shine. I want to work together and they (UFC) has showed me they want to work together, too. I hope everything’s going to change,” she said in an interview with MMA Weekly.
Cyborg also said that she has met with new UFC owner Ari Emanuel, who left her with a positive feeling:
“Yes, at an event. He don’t know too much about fighting but he came and shake my hand and he’s a big fan of MMA. He said he wants me in UFC and I’m happy it’s changing.”
At the end of the day, the former Invicta champion would simply like to focus on battles inside the cage rather than battles with the UFC outside of it. And as far as UFC President Dana White goes, Cyborg admitted that she forgives him:
“It’s just better for the fighter to go to the cage, do your best there and make an exciting fight for the fans. I don’t want nothing against me, have to fight outside of the cage. you don’t need to say good things about me, just don’t say bad things about me, either. I’m just there to do my job, get my money and go home and be with family. that’s it, that’s the life for me. No more wars outside of the cage, just inside of it,” she added.
“I forgive him (White). I think everybody do mistakes as I did mistakes in my career, too. It happens, and it’s hard for someone to admit when they did a mistake. I respect his attitude for doing what he did and if it’s going to change I am very happy to work together.”
For quite some time, Ronda Rousey was considered to be not only the face of women’s MMA, but the face of MMA as a whole. After suffering back-to-back stoppage losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes, however, Rousey’s fighting future is unclear. With that being said, some may argue that Cris Cyborg, a female many […]
For quite some time, Ronda Rousey was considered to be not only the face of women’s MMA, but the face of MMA as a whole. After suffering back-to-back stoppage losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes, however, Rousey’s fighting future is unclear.
With that being said, some may argue that Cris Cyborg, a female many consider to be the very best in the world, could take over that role. The Brazilian slugger, however, believes that ‘women’s MMA can’t have just one face’:
“I believe women’s MMA can’t have just one face, there are several athletes in the promotion,” Cyborg said during a chat with the media on Tuesday (Via MMAFighting.com). “What happened was, they made Ronda the face of (women’s) MMA and she lost twice and doesn’t want to come back. It’s not about one face only. When you make it about one face and she leaves, you miss it.”
Cyborg will next take on Tonya Evinger at UFC 214 on July 29, 2017 for the vacant UFC 145-pound belt, and although she feels as if multiple faces are needed, she also admitted that she will ‘represent every woman’ with her belt, assuming she indeed beats Evinger:
“We have several athletes, it can’t be just one person being the face of (women’s) MMA,” Cyborg said. “I will represent every woman with my belt there, just like every woman in the UFC represent every MMA fighter. It’s bad when you make one person the face of (women’s) MMA.”
What do you make of Cyborg’s comments regarding women’s MMA?
On July 29, 2017, Cris Cyborg Justino will finally get the chance to fight for a UFC title when she takes on reigning Invicta FC bantamweight champion Tony Evinger for the vacant UFC women’s featherweight strap at UFC 214 from Anaheim, California. Despite her success through two UFC bouts, Cyborg’s relationship with the promotion hasn’t […]
On July 29, 2017, Cris Cyborg Justino will finally get the chance to fight for a UFC title when she takes on reigning Invicta FC bantamweight champion Tony Evinger for the vacant UFC women’s featherweight strap at UFC 214 from Anaheim, California.
Despite her success through two UFC bouts, Cyborg’s relationship with the promotion hasn’t gone as well as she had planned. UFC President Dana White recently admitted that he has made some ‘mistakes’ when dealing with Cyborg, which gave the Brazilian slugger hope that the situation could ‘change’:
“I hope it’s gonna change,” Cyborg said on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “The last interview, Dana White said he did a lot of mistakes with Cyborg, maybe we can work together. I love my job. If my boss and my company loves working with me, we’re gonna have a lot of success together.
“I accepted that. Let’s see what’s gonna happen after that,” she continued. “Let’s see if not going to be just words, but if the practice in business is gonna change. We just have to work together. If you want to work together, for sure we can make a lot of money together. But we need to work together. After this interview, I think he opened the door for getting better.”
With her contract expiring in October, we could see Cyborg leave the world’s largest mixed martial arts promotion if conditions don’t improve, although she claims that she is currently only focused on her upcoming title fight:
“I’m gonna fight for the belt now, and then if I get the belt, this is gonna hold me one year, probably have a couple of fights too,” she said. “I really have to think about it. If the UFC is gonna work with me, how we’re gonna work together. If I’m happy there, if they show respect for me… let’s wait and just wants to make everybody happy, all my fans happy. I think everybody is gonna watch my fight because they waited so long for that day, let’s see after. I think after, when we work together and make money together, it changes.
“I know I have a lot of doors open for me if this doesn’t happen, but all my focus is my fight in the end of the month and then we see what’s going to happen. I hope everything will be okay.”
Love or hate her, there’s no denying that Cyborg is one of the most polarizing and controversial stars in all of the sport, and fostering a relationship with her, especially in the absence of her onetime media rival Ronda Rousey, can only behoove a UFC in need of legitimately bankable pay-per-view (PPV) stars.
Based on the sheer amount of coverage and speculation for her awaited UFC 214 return alone, it’s become clear that Cyborg is one of their biggest and most dependable names, and improving their treatment of her, which could be described as ‘rough’ in the past, will only serve to gain them what they desire most – numbers.
What do you make of Cyborg’s most recent comments?
