Cris Cyborg faces Sara Collins in the co-main event of PFL Lyon on Saturday in what is likely one of the two final MMA fights of her legendary career.
The former Bellator and Strikeforce champion has declared plans to retire in 2026 with two fights left on her current PFL contract with hopes to also compete again in boxing before she hangs up her gloves for good. While Cyborg remains just as dominant as ever — she earned a lopsided decision win over multi-time PFL champion Larissa Pacheco in her most recent outing — the now 40-year-old Brazilian recognizes that she can’t fight forever and she’s ready to move onto new endeavors outside of combat sports.
“My last fight with [Larissa] Pacheco, I said to everybody I’m starting me legacy tour because I have two fights left on my contract and I’m preparing myself to retire and close this chapter,” Cyborg told MMA Fighting. “For me, next year is going to be the last year for everything. In July, I turned 40 so next year is going to be 41. I don’t have any bad injuries in my career. I’m very blessed about this. I never did one surgery from one injury so thank you god. I feel happy. Next year is going to be 21 years doing the same thing everyday and I have different dreams. Among the dreams, I want to be a [veterinarian] and I still want to do this.
“I believe next year is going to be my last year. I have this fight with Sara Collins and then one more on my contract and I’ve already talked with PFL so we’ve planned for my last fight. We talked a little bit about maybe being in Brazil. Then I want to use the opportunity next year to do some boxing fights, too. So my last year, I believe I’ve worked with my team, this will be the last year.”
Considering Cyborg held titles in every major organization including the UFC, she doesn’t have much left to accomplish. Of course, she hasn’t lost a step when it comes to her remaining competitive with the best fighters in the world, but Cyborg admits it’s better to recognize the right time to walk away than sticking around too long.
With time to reflect, Cyborg has scored wins over some of the biggest names in women’s MMA history with only two defeats on her record. One came in the first fight of her professional career, and the second was a shocking knockout loss to Amanda Nunes in the UFC.
Cyborg pursued a rematch with Nunes, but the fight never materialized and it seems highly unlikely to ever happen again. That might eat away at certain fighters, but Cyborg promises she did everything possible to run it back with Nunes, and she can’t live her life filled with regrets over the one fight that got away.
“Amanda Nunes happened, we fought each other, both from Brazil, that night she was better than me, she got the victory,” Cyborg said. “We never ran from each other. She didn’t give me the rematch. I asked for the rematch, everybody knows the story and she said ‘Cris, I’m not going to give you the rematch.’ She signed the deal that [one] time.
“I choose to follow my new journey. I’ve got two titles in Bellator and I went to PFL. I think I’m seven years undefeated. I think I’m a better fighter for sure. I improved my game.”
As far as fights that got away, Cyborg doesn’t spend much time thinking about opponents she never faced with Ronda Rousey and Kayla Harrison as the names that get brought up to her the most.
Cyborg is quick to point out that she never needed to chase either of them for a fight but Harrison and Rousey definitely chased her.
“When I started fighting, I was already champion, Ronda started fighting,” Cyborg explained. “Nobody knows who she is, she started calling me out for people to put attention on her. This is a marketing strategy for them. I don’t believe she had an intention to fight me, to face me in a fight.
“Kayla Harrison, same thing. She was in PFL, I was in Bellator, she called me out all the time. Said my name all the time. She put some [spotlight] on top of her and then never wanted to fight. As soon as I signed with PFL, she left to go to UFC and running from me.”
While she obviously would have loved to avenge the last loss on her record, Cyborg promises a rematch with Nunes never consumed her and she eventually moved on.
Cyborg knows without a doubt that she created a lasting legacy based on a lifetime of great performances and she never wants to be defined by any one win or loss. It’s that kind of perspective that allows her to reconcile with retirement and not get filled with any kind of regrets.
That’s a far cry from somebody like Rousey, who was widely considered as the greatest women’s fighter on the planet until she suffered brutal back-to-back losses in what effectively served as her final appearances in combat sports.
Rousey even lashed out at the way she’s been perceived since leaving the sport while claiming that fans and media are quick to turn on anybody in MMA after losing.
It’s safe to say Cyborg disagrees.
“I think Ronda is still upset because she lost the fights and then she quit,” Cyborg said. “She’s a little bit upset at herself and she puts blame on the fans but imagine you follow somebody from the beginning of their career, everything, all the victories, everything and then the person lost and she quits. You say what? People like to [see you] overcome.
“Hopefully she’s coming back where she’s set up her mind better, getting more fights, win and show the young kids, the young girls, you can lose, you can learn and some days you’re going to win. I think you have to learn from that day. I don’t think she learned that day. I think she’s still blaming people. When you blame people for things that happen to you, you’re never going to learn.”
Cyborg doesn’t point fingers at anyone for how the Nunes fight played out, and she’s long since moved on, which is why she’s not haunted by that loss anymore.
“I believe like this, I started doing sports when I was 12 years old, and one of the things I learned, sometimes you win, sometimes you learn,” Cyborg said. “In MMA, I have two fights I lost. My first fight in my career and after 14 years, I lost again. I feel like I learned in a loss and I showed my fans, you can come back. Sometimes you can go down seven times and you always stand up eight times.
“I really have some fans stop me in the street and say ‘Cris, I started following you after the Amanda Nunes fight because how you take everything after 14 years undefeated in the sport, how you took it, [how you handled the loss] and I started to follow you.’ I think this is an example.”
Cyborg hopes that Rousey could eventually display a similar attitude when it comes to her career or perhaps the former UFC bantamweight champion actually plots a comeback that allows her to go out in a more satisfactory way.
“I don’t think she recovered yet,” Cyborg said about Rousey. “But she’s young, maybe she’ll get it. Hopefully she’s coming back. I think it would be good for her.”
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