Cris Cyborg Set to Make Boxing Debut vs. Simone Silva on September 25th in Curitiba, Brazil
Cris Cyborg is set to make her boxing debut in the next couple of months.
Cyborg was a guest on the MMA Hour where she announced that her debut in the sport of boxing will be vs. Simone Silva on September 25th in her hometown of Curitiba, Brazil.
Since losing the UFC Featherweight championship vs. Amanda Nunes at UFC 232 in December of 2018, Cyborg joined Bellator and defeated Julia Budd for the Bellator Featherweight championship. Cyborg’s also defended it vs. Arlene Blencowe 2x, Leslie Smith and Sinead Kavanagh in her current run as champ.
Cyborg became the only MMA fighter in history, male or female, to become a Grand Slam Champion, holding world titles across four major mixed martial arts promotions.
Following the win over Blencowe. The decorated former Strikeforce, Invicta FC, and UFC champion revealed that she is now a free agent and with the offer period window to be expiring, it is confirmed that Cyborg will be officially stepping into the boxing ring, not the octagon cage.
There was a recent report from Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix that negotiations were made for Cyborg to face undisputed lightweight champion Katie Taylor, but nothing on that front since then. Cyborg has competed in a few professional Muay Thai fights, and has sparred with undisputed middleweight boxing champion Claressa Shields, but has yet to compete in a professional boxing match.
The one MMA fight of considerable intrigue involving Cyborg would be against two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time PFL champion Kayla Harrison, who competes at lightweight but has fought at 145 lbs once before. While PFL CEO Peter Murray said there’s “been outreach” to Cyborg’s team over making this fight happen, Cyborg says this is not the case.
“We’ve never had any talks with PFL,” Cyborg said. “They never talk about this fight. I know it’s a lot of talks on the internet to make this fight happen with [Harrison], two different ways, but I’ve never had the opportunity to talk about anything. I’ve been talking to [Bellator President] Scott Coker about boxing fights, we’ve talked about how being co-promoters would be really nice. I really love working with Scott Coker and if we have the opportunity to make this fight happen and continue to be with Scott, that would be amazing, co-promote the event, and I think make the fight happen.”
Despite the fight vs. Harrison not being made just yet. Cyborg does have a date with her boxing debut on September 25th vs Simone Silva in Curitiba, Brazil where it’ll be interesting to see how the Grand Slam MMA champion performs in a sport where she looks to continue her combat legacy in.
You can listen to all of Bodyslam’s podcasts by following us on Spotify and subscribing to our YouTube Channel, or any of your favorite podcast platforms.
Follow me on Twitter: @WhoElseButRami
Follow us on Twitter: @BodyslamNet
