Cris Cyborg couldn’t help but smile as she heard her many accomplishments in MMA listed back to her.
The Brazilian knockout artist has been a UFC champion, a Strikeforce champion and an Invicta FC champion. In 2020, she won the Bellator women’s featherweight title, making her the first fighter in mixed martial arts history to win gold in four major promotions.
Belts and accolades aside, Cyborg is most proud of her longevity and consistency. This is her 17th year as a professional MMA fighter and she has lost just twice, once in her pro debut and once to Amanda Nunes. She’s quick to point out that this was never her intended path — she was a handball player in her native Brazil — but she took to Muay Thai and then MMA, vowing to be the best inside the cage.
Fast-forward nearly two decades and Cyborg, whose real name is Cristiane Justino, is one of the greatest female combat sports athletes ever. And she’s not done yet. On Saturday, Cyborg will defend her Bellator title against Arlene Blencowe in the main event of Bellator 279 in Honolulu. If she wins, Cyborg will have defended her belt four straight times, which would tie Ben Askren’s record for most consecutive title defenses in Bellator history.
“I don’t feel in my heart yet about retirement,” Cyborg told ESPN. “It’s gonna be 17 years, and maybe I can do 20 years. But I don’t know. Only God knows how I’m gonna feel. But I feel great.
“I’ve never had any bad injuries in my career. It’s very long. I’ve never had one surgery in my career. I never pulled out of one fight because of injury. I feel very blessed about this.”
Cyborg, 36, already owns a win over Blencowe, a second-round submission at Bellator 249 in October 2020. That was the first submission win of Cyborg’s career. Cyborg is a heavy favorite this weekend — some sportsbooks have her at -1000 — which is one of the reasons there is more buzz about who she could fight in the future than who she is fighting currently.
Cyborg will be a free agent at…
Source : espn
