After defeat of Holly Holm, Cris Cyborg gets called out by “a legit featherweight”

Last night, the UFC closed out the year 2017 with UFC 219, a stacked card that went down in the fight capital of Las Vegas, Nevada. In the main event of this anticipated PPV, UFC women’s featherweight queen Cris Cyborg attempted her first UFC title defense opposite former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm. In advance of this fight, Holm was considered one of the toughest tests of Cyborg’s incredible career thus far, and as it turns out, these suspicions proved accurate.

Despite Cyborg’s fight-ending power and vaunted aggression, Holm hung in there for five, fun rounds, even popping the champ with solid strikes of her own on a few occasions. In the eyes of some fans, she even won a few rounds. In the end, however, Cyborg’s patience, volume, aggression and cage control earned her a just unanimous decision win.

Having thwarted Holm, Cyborg must now look to the future. Unfortunately, viable options for the seemingly unbeatable Brazilian champion are becoming more and more scarce.

As luck would have it, though, there is one fighter out there who is still chomping at the bit for the chance to mix it up with Cyborg: Invicta featherweight champion Megan Anderson.

Anderson, who was briefly linked to a bout with Cyborg earlier this year, reiterated her interest in this fight after Cyborg’s UFC 219 battle with Holm.

Great fight ladies! Congrats Cris on retaining your belt! 👏🏻👏🏻 @ufc I think there’s only 1 fight to make now against a legit featherweight. #UFC219

— Megan Anderson (@MeganA_mma) December 31, 2017

With her defeat of Holm, Cyborg extended her unbeaten-streak to a baffling 20-straight, while her overall record stands at an insane 19-1 (1). Since joining the UFC roster in May of 2016, she has mauled Leslie Smith and Lina Lansberg in 140-pound catchweight bouts, and Tonya Evinger and Holm in featherweight title fights.

Anderson, meanwhile, is currently on a four-fight streak composed of finishes of Amber Leibrock, Amanda Bell, Peggy Morgan and Charmaine Tweet.

Does a Cris Cyborg vs. Megan Anderson fight interest you?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 31/12/2017.