Butterflies flutter in Cris Cyborg’s abdomen this week.
It’s not that the Bellator MMA featherweight champion is nervous, in her personal evaluation, forward of her skilled boxing debut Sunday in her hometown of Curitiba, Brazil, the place she is going to face veteran Simone Silva. Excited: That’s extra prefer it.
“It’s totally different, nevertheless it’s nonetheless preventing. It’s nonetheless a struggle,” the 37-year-old GOAT and pioneer of ladies’s blended martial arts advised The Publish this week by way of Zoom. “I do know it’s a distinct sport. I ready very [well]. I really feel prepared.”
For effectively over a decade, Cyborg has been both No. 1 or 2 on the planet at 145 kilos in MMA. And for years, she — like so many profitable blended martial artists — has toyed with the thought of making an attempt her arms at boxing. Ultimately, the celebs aligned for her to chase one other dream of hers as she competes at 154 kilos.
That distinction in weight already has Cyborg feeling significantly better than is typical for struggle week, given she gained’t have to chop an additional 9 kilos.
“I really feel extra comfortable in struggle week. It’s form of bizarre,” Cyborg mentioned. “Seventeen years, I’ve been slicing weight the week of the struggle, after which this week has been slightly bit totally different.”
Cyborg is not any stranger to venturing outdoors of MMA competitors. Previously, she competed at world submission grappling competitions comparable to ADCC and IBJJF, and eight years in the past she misplaced a Muay Thai championship however in opposition to famend kickboxer Jorina Baars.
Naturally, every particular person self-discipline comes with its pure variations from MMA. In Cyborg’s estimation, the most important distinction in getting ready for boxing this time has gotta be the sneakers.
“However in fact, all the things is totally different,” Cyborg elaborates. “After which it’s very [repetitious] too as a result of, day-after-day, you’re coaching form of the identical factor. It’s not like, ‘OK, this morning, I’m gonna do Muay Thai. Tomorrow: grappling. However I really feel comfortable. I do know it’s gonna enhance my recreation for MMA.”
With a 17-22 file, Cyborg’s opponent Silva brings a wealth of expertise regardless of a sub-.500 file. She’s confronted world-class boxers like Amanda Serrano, and Cyborg has by no means been one to take an opponent evenly, no matter what outsiders may say.
A possible hitch entered the equation within the leadup the struggle as a result of 39-year-old Silva nonetheless being underneath a 60-day medical suspension by the Texas Combative Sports activities Program after struggling a knockout loss on Aug. 13. The Struggle Music Present 2 (1 p.m. ET, FiteTV) co-main occasion bout in opposition to Cyborg is scheduled for 43 days after the loss to Jessica Camara in Houston.
Consequently, the bout will now not be overseen by the Organização Brasileira de Boxe, which can oversee the remainder of the occasion’s boxing motion. Nonetheless, Cyborg-Silva seems to be going ahead as scheduled, and the previous UFC, Strikeforce and Invicta champ didn't appear involved Wednesday concerning the struggle’s standing.
The bout is scheduled for eight 2-minute rounds, the customary spherical size in girls’s boxing that’s a minute shorter than is typical for males. In MMA, each women and men usually compete in 5-minute rounds. However, a few years in the past, girls’s MMA was contested over 3-minute rounds … till Cyborg’s historic championship win over Gina Carano in 2009 established what would later turn into normal when their bout was scheduled for the longer rounds.
With that in thoughts, Cyborg is assured the time will come when each women and men field 3-minute rounds.
“I consider the game’s gonna develop and gonna change the time,” Cyborg mentioned. “The women can struggle three minutes.”
Cyborg prefers to not look previous Silva and her milestone matchup this weekend, however loads of prospects loom in her future. On the boxing aspect, chatter of a possible struggle with world champion Katie Taylor gained’t go away and would solely develop louder with a powerful displaying Sunday. The MMA nice feels “honored” to be in that dialog with Taylor, a champion she respects and considers to be a legend in her sport — takes one to know one.
And with a self-imposed three-year window earlier than capping her skilled preventing profession, there stays a lot Cyborg goals to perform in her main sport. She’s at the moment a free agent, though indicators level to her returning to Bellator and persevering with a long-standing enterprise relationship with president Scott Coker, who previously headed Strikeforce throughout Cyborg’s rise to stardom.
Cyborg says she’s motivated to present her followers the fights they need to see. And at this level, these followers are calling as loudly as they will for her to face unbeaten PFL light-weight champion and two-time Olympic gold medal-winning judoka Kayla Harrison. It’s a bout Harrison has referred to as for simply as loudly and, reportedly, practically got here collectively throughout Harrison’s free company interval earlier this yr earlier than PFL exercised its proper to match a Bellator contract supply.
The 2 girls, who alongside Amanda Nunes are thought of the world’s greatest at 145 kilos and up, have traded phrases on social media for years, however Cyborg deferred this week as regards to the 2 going through off, a minimum of whereas she’s acquired boxing enterprise to deal with.
“Let’s see after this struggle,” mentioned Cyborg of probably going through Harrison. “I don’t like to consider the longer term.”
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