It’s official, Cris ‘Cyborg’ Santos has been granted a release from the UFC, and she’s know headed to all-female promotion Invicta FC who’ve signed her up to a multi-fight deal.
‘Cyborg’s’ manager Tito Ortiz held a press conference, covered live on the Inside MMA show on AXS:TV via his Punishment Training Center gym to announce the news with the Brazilian fighter in attendance.
‘Cyborg’ will now debut at the upcoming Invicta FC 5 event on April 5th against fellow Brazilian Ediane Gomes (10-2).
During the presser both Ortiz and ‘Cyborg’ were keen to stress that they still believe that a deal with the UFC can still happen at a later date.
However, at one stage Ortiz had his fighter do a mock weigh-in to show that even at her current 160lbs she is lean – an attempt to strengthen their case that she couldn’t cut down to 135lbs.
It’s not an ideal situation for ‘Cyborg’ or Ortiz given that it’s unlikely she’ll be getting a big payday over at Invicta, but given that Invicta FC’s president Shannon Knapp has a good relationship with the UFC having once worked their, it’s a deal that does still leave the door open for a move there at some later date.
The big winner here though is Invicta who’ve recently seen a lot of their fighters move over to the UFC to form the new 135lb division.
Now they have signed one of the biggest names in womens MMA which will attract a lot of attention their way.
Incidentally, in a separate press release Invicta FC also announced the signing of former Strikeforce champion Marloes Coenen, and the intention is that the winner of ‘Cyborg’ Vs Gomes will fight her for their 135lb title.
That’s a real coup for Invicta, but bad news for the UFC who are, for the time being at least, going to have to do without two of the most credible challengers for their current champion Ronda Rousey.
Watch the full press conference below courtesy of InsideMMA.
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