Three potential opponents for Cris Cyborg’s first Bellator title defense
In the main event of Bellator 238, Cris Cyborg was looking to become the Bellator featherweight champion as she was taking on Julia Budd.
It was Cyborg’s promotional debut, where a win could be the first fighter to win belts in Strikeforce, Invicta, UFC, and Bellator. She did just that as she TKO’d Julia Budd in the fourth round.
Now, following the win, many have wondered who will Cyborg’s first title defense be against. The Brazilian said she liked the idea of a Grand Prix, but with no talk of a tournament taking place, here are three potential opponents for Cris Cyborg’s first title defense.
Cat Zingano
Cat Zingano is a big name and a former UFC title challenger, where she was submitted by Ronda Rousey. Yet Zingano had success in the Las Vegas-based promotion with wins over the likes of Amanda Nunes, Miesha Tate, Raquel Pennington, and Marion Reneau.
Although Zingano’s last fight was a loss to Megan Anderson it was a weird loss given Anderson’s toenail cut Zingano’s eye which ended the fight. Since then, she signed with Bellator and has yet to make her promotional debut.
Scott Coker and Bellator should look to capitalize on a big name in Zingano and make her debut against Cris Cyborg. It would be the biggest fight the promotion could put on following Cyborg’s win over Julia Budd and even the champion made it known she was open to the fight.
“Zingano, she’s an amazing athlete,” Cyborg said on Ariel Helwani’s MMA show on Monday. “She beat Amanda Nunes. Gonna be a perfect match if it happens. … She’s going to be a great challenge because she beat Amanda Nunes.”
Cat Zingano has also spoken about that fight, so it makes a lot of sense for Zingano vs. Cyborg to happen sometime later this year.
