Cyborg has no plans to abandon Invicta's featherweight division
Cris Cyborg's long-awaited UFC debut on Saturday managed to exceed sky-high expectations, with Cyborg ending her catchweight fight with Leslie Smith in just 81 seconds at UFC 198.
UFC fans finally got to witness arguably the most dominant female MMA fighter perform, but Cyborg, the Invicta FC’s reigning featherweight titleholder, said it's likely she'll remain in her weight class and defend her belt.
"I've been training for two years to be able to make weight yesterday, and I felt very well tonight," Cyborg said, according to Chuck Mindenhall of MMAFighting.com. "And I believe I can do other superfights. But I'm going to continue in my weight class. I've been champion for some time, and I want female MMA to grow, and I don't think it's the right thing for me to abandon my weight class."
The UFC doesn't have a featherweight division, meaning that if Cyborg were to fight one of the superstars in the promotion's bantamweight division, such as Miesha Tate or Ronda Rousey, she'd have to drop to 135 pounds.
Cyborg managed to reach 139 pounds for her bout with Smith, but it's uncertain whether she'd be willing to cut further weight to be eligible to fight in the bantamweight division.
Current UFC bantamweight champion, Miesha Tate, tweeted Saturday that she'd be willing to offer a title shot if Cyborg could make weight, however, Cyborg reminded Tate she already owns a belt:
.@MieshaTate I have a world title. You know I'm world champion. Thank you for the support
— Cris Cyborg (@criscyborg) May 15, 2016
It was thought that Cyborg would use her victory as a chance to set up a potential superfight with Rousey, as the two have a longstanding feud. However, Cyborg said she didn't want to take away from her first UFC fight with talk of a Rousey bout.
"I believe that it was my moment, tonight was my moment and it was historic," she said in the post-fight press conference. "I never thought I'd be sitting here tonight. So take a lot of pictures. I never thought I'd be here after everything that I went through. It was a historic moment for me. Talking about (Rousey) is not something ... it's something people are going to talk about, but I let my fans decide who my opponent will be and I just be ready."