Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino finally made her UFC debut on Saturday night in her hometown of Curitiba, Brazil in front of 45,000 fans, and as expected she made short work of Leslie Smith in their 140lb catchweight bout.
It took the former Strikeforce and current Invicta FC featherweight champion just 81 seconds to demolish Smith with precise, powerful punches, and that TKO victory now means that the 30 year-old has finished 14 of her 16 career victories via strikes.
Fans have long dreamed of a superfight between ‘Cyborg’ and Ronda Rousey, but she didn’t mention her rival during her post-fight interview in the Octagon, and later explained that was because she wanted to just focus on enjoying the moment that she’s dreamed about for many years.
“I believe that it was my moment, tonight was my moment and it was historic,” Cyborg said at 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.”
However, it turns out that Cyborg couldn’t resist the opportunity to taunt her long-time rival with a post on social media several hours later.
“Hey @rondarousey you running all the way to New York? #dontbescaredhomie #CHAMPIONvsEXChampion #ufc205,” Cyborg wrote on Twitter.
Rousey Vs Cyborg would be a perfect fight for the UFC’s debut in New York in November, but it seems highly unlikely that ‘Rowdy’ would accept that fight coming off her shock defeat to Holly Holm last year.
Cyborg isn’t hanging around waiting for that match-up however, and today on ‘The Underground’ MMA forum she revealed that her next fight will actually take place back in the Invicta FC organization where she remains the reigning featherweight champion.
“I am very blessed for all the loyal fans who campaigned for me to fight in my city!” Cyborg wrote. “For them I made the sacrifices and became one of the only world champions to fight a super fight down in weight while they are currently a world champion. My next fight I will defend my belt at 145lbs and I hope everyone new to my career will see what an amazing promotion Invicta is.
