Tag: UFC 219

Throughout her three-fight UFC tenure, Cris Cyborg has proven to be a star, as she’s drawn impressive numbers, but next weekend (Dec. 30, 2017, we’ll see just how big of a star she is, as she’s set to defend her featherweight title and headline UFC 219 and ex-bantamweight titleholder Holly Holm.

Her coach, Jason Parillo, believes she’s a ‘bigger draw than anybody even knows’:

“A lot of people know who Cris is,” Parillo told MMAjunkie. “She’s a big draw as it is, but she’s a bigger draw than anybody even knows, because we haven’t had her on this big promotion.”

As far as the fight itself goes, Cyborg certainly has a difficult test on her hands.

Although she’s just 1-3 in her last four fights, Holm is without question one of the best strikers amongst female fighters. She’s a world class boxer and kick boxer, and her decorated background in those sports has transferred over to the Octagon quite well.

She also is very mobile on the feet, which could give a fighter like Cyborg some problems.

Despite the skills of Holm, however, Parillo expects Cyborg to ‘dominate’, because in his opinion, she’s simply on ‘another level’:

“I believe (Cyborg) can go in there and dominate, and that’s what we expect,” Parillo said. “We also expect the worst. We’re training for how this fight can go any way.

“Cris is just on another level than these girls. I really, truly believe she is. I know Holly has all the experience in the world and is very smart and an intelligent fighter, and they’re going to go in there with a hell of a game plan, but Cris is a different animal.”

How do you expect the fight to play out?

The post Coach Expects Cris Cyborg To Dominate Holly Holm appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

In just one week, the UFC featherweight title will be on the line, as champion Cris Cyborg is set to defend her 145-pound title against ex-bantamweight titleholder Holly Holm in the main event of UFC 219 next Saturday (Dec. 30, 2017) in Las Vegas.

Recently speaking on the fight, Holm made it clear that she’s nothing short of confident, but she also said that she’ll be willing to run it back with Cyborg if she does indeed come out on top – as long as the situation isn’t similar to when she beat Ronda Rousey at UFC 193:

“With Ronda, I was open to the rematch as well,” Holm explained on a recent UFC 219 conference call. “It’s just, they didn’t know how long or when she would come back, or when she would want to, and that’s when I said, ‘Well, I don’t want to just wait around. I’ll wait if you can tell me that it’s going to be within six months or whatever,’ but I didn’t want to just be waiting around for that one fight. I wanted to be able to fight and train and live out my passion. I didn’t want it to just be based on just one fighter.”

After shocking the world with a second-round knockout victory over Rousey in 2015, Holm was open to the idea of a rematch, but the “Rowdy” one ended up spending the next year on the sidelines.

Holm, however, doesn’t expect the situation to be the same with Cyborg:

“So, I think that situation was different. If that was to happen in this fight, of course I would say yes. I think anybody deserves a rematch. I think that’s just the name of the game. That’s the fighting spirit, and I would definitely be open to that. I feel like Cris is definitely a competitive person as well and trains hard, and I feel like the situation after the fight would be a little bit different anyway. I don’t think that Cris would want to sit aside for a year or however long.”

Although her confidence is evident, Holm will certainly have her hands full, as Cyborg is widely considered to be the best female fighter on the planet. She hasn’t lost since 2005 and she’s currently riding an 18-fight win streak.

Who do you expect to come out on top next week?

The post Holly Holm Open To Rematch With Cris Cyborg If Victorious At UFC 219 appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.