Cris Cyborg: If UFC doesn’t start FW division, I will look elsewhere

The one that got away from UFC president Dana White was Fedor Emelianenko. Ask the UFC boss what fighter he wishes he had brought into the Octagon, it’s Fedor, vs. … anyone.

The fight that got away may be Ronda Rousey vs. Cris Cyborg.

Cyborg is the Invicta FC featherweight champion, but her contract is with the UFC. When Ronda Rousey was unbeatable the league planned to have Cyborg slowly drop to 135, for what would have been the biggest fight in MMA history. Then Ronda lost, and Cyborg said definitively she could never make 135. So the fight seems less likely. That said, White says Rousey still wants to fight Cyborg.

Cyborg said in September that she is close to being done with catchweight fights. Her main goal now seems to be to get the UFC to add a featherweight division. She has two fights left on her UFC contract, and in an interview with the Peruvian news outlet El Comerico, Cyborg says that without a 145 division, she will look elsewhere.

The main thing is that I have two fights left in my division [featherweight], said Cyborg, as translated by Danny Segura for MMA Fighting. I’m going to stay in my division, and see if the UFC opens up my division, or if they don’t do it, I’m going to leave.

I’ll keep fighting so that they open more divisions. If I don’t have a division in the UFC, I’m going to go to another company like RIZIN or Bellator or another organization where they have my division. I’ll keep fighting for that.

When will Cyborg be ready to fight again?

I don’t know yet, probably next year, she said. In February, I’ll be available to fight. I’m ready for whoever at 145 pounds.