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Cris Cyborg claims that even though she is still a free agent, she expects to re-sign with Bellator.
The co-main event of this Saturday's Terence Crawford vs. David Avanesyan WBO welterweight title fight bill pits Cyborg vs Gabrielle Holloway. Having beaten Simone Silva by a unanimous decision back in September, this will be Cyborg's second run in boxing this year. Despite her recent emphasis on the beautiful game, Cyborg claims that her MMA career is still very much alive.
“I’m not done in MMA,” Cyborg told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. “MMA is my life and I love what I do. I’m the Bellator champion and for sure I’m going to defend my title. But the opportunity showed up. This is one of my dreams. When I did my first boxing fight it was my dream and just getting called, ‘Hey Cris, we’d like to have you on the card.’ So I just kept training and the opportunity came up and it was a dream come true.”
After defeating Julia Budd for the featherweight championship in 2020, Cyborg now possesses the championship. In her most recent contest, which served as the last contest of her contract with Bellator, she defeated Arlene Blencowe by unanimous decision. Despite being a free agent, Cyborg is expected to re-sign with Bellator given her relationship with CEO Scott Coker and the promotion's interest in keeping her on board. Cyborg concurs.
“Not yet,” Cyborg said when asked if she had resigned. “After this fight, I’m going to sit down and talk to Scott, but I’m Team Bellator.”
At the CHI Health Center in Omaha, NE, Gabrielle Holloway will face Cyborg on Saturday, December 10. Cyborg must then consider what will happen to her going forward.
The super fight versus Kayla Harrison was what the majority of spectators were hoping to see, but it was severely derailed by Harrison's defeat to Larissa Pacheco in the PFL Championships in November. However, Cyborg isn't completely ruling out the possibility of another battle taking place in the future. For the time being, though, Cyborg is hoping that Cat Zingano will be her opponent in her following MMA match.
“I know [Harrison’s] got two fights left with the PFL,” Cyborg said. “She can rematch Pacheco, she can fight Aspen Ladd — she just signed with the PFL — and then maybe she can come to Bellator.
“For me, I have a big fight next. Cat Zingano’s a big fight for me. She’s undefeated at 145, she beat Amanda Nunes, she beat Miesha Tate, and she beat a lot of good girls. I think she’s the next fight for me.”