The waiting video game is over for the Bellator ladies’s featherweight department.
Champion Cris Cyborg has actually re-signed with the promo in what Bellator called an “exclusive, multi-fight contract,” and one it said in a press release was an “historic” deal. Terms were not revealed.
Cyborg (26-2 MIXED MARTIAL ARTS, 5-0 BMMA) most just recently combated a little bit more than a year ago with a unanimous choice title defense versus Arlene Blencowe at Bellator 279. But after her agreement was up, she chose to check out complimentary company. The months-long procedure had Bellator president Scott Coker routinely requested Cyborg’s status, and he constantly said he was confident she would be back in the fold.
“After receiving multiple offers from several promotions, I’m very happy that I was able to come to terms with Bellator and remain the face of their women’s featherweight division,” Cyborg said in a press release. “Scott Coker is a promoter that I’ve dealt with and appreciated for several years. He’s done so much to more ladies’s mixed martial arts and offer us a platform to display our abilities.
“When making this decision, it was important to me that I was signing with the organization that I felt had the biggest names and the top talent at 145 pounds for me to challenge myself against. There is no question that all the top female featherweights are signed with Bellator and I can’t wait to get back in there and defend my belt.”
After 4 straight blockage wins to start her Bellator period, all in title battles, in their rematch Blencowe was the very first lady to take Cyborg the range in the promo. While she checked out complimentary company, Cyborg remained hectic with a set of boing matches in the last quarter of the year and won both.
News of her brand-new agreement might be welcome news to other Bellator ladies’s featherweights who now a minimum of understand who their target ought to be. Former UFC ladies’s bantamweight title opposition Sara McMann just recently made her Bellator launching with a win over Blencowe and said she didn’t believe it was reasonable for Cyborg to hold up the title image.
McMann remains in the mix, however ahead of her in line and all however specific to be Cyborg’s next test is fellow previous UFC title opposition Cat Zingano, who is coming off a win over Leah McCourt and is 4-0 given that she pertained to Bellator from the UFC. Zingano is the No. 1 competitor in Bellator’s main rankings, and McMann was No. 2 after her marketing launching win in Hawaii less than 2 weeks earlier.
“It’s not every day you have the opportunity to re-sign the greatest women’s mixed martial artist to ever compete in the sport, but that’s exactly what we have done with Cris Cyborg,” Coker said in a release. “There is no female athlete who can match what Cris has done inside or out of the cage, and my favorite part about Cris is her continued willingness to take on all comers.”
Cyborg is the only fighter in history to hold titles for Bellator, the UFC, Invicta and Strikeforce. She was unbeaten for more than 13 years up until she was stunned by UFC ladies’s bantamweight champ Amanda Nunes, who went up in weight to pursue a 2nd title. Cyborg won another UFC battle after that, then made the relocate to Bellator and won the belt in her battles bout with the promo.
