Dominance again in Brasilia
The UFC fans got to see the second fight in a UFC octagon of the most dominant female fighter in the world.
The woman known as Cyborg has simply been the greatest female fighter throughout any promotion as she only lost one fight, her first fight ever and since has rolled through everyone.
The UFC is known as the place where the best fighters in the world are located as they have the best talent pool out of any promotion.
For the two not to be together made little sense as the UFC certainly would want the best female fight on their roster to continue their reputation.
The problem with that though is the fact that the weight class for Cyborg doesn’t exist in the UFC meaning there is no room for her on the roster permanently.
For the UFC the issue is that at 145lbs there are not as many great fighters and certainly not enough to create an entire division.
The weight is essentially the women’s heavyweights as there are no bigger weight classes in MMA.
Finding women to fight in that division can be tough and finding women who can truly compete at that weight is even tougher.
Creating a full weight class might not make complete sense unless they use it as an excuse to see Cyborg more consistently.
Still, the UFC wanted the chance to see Cyborg fight for their promotion and make sure that they can have the best female fighter in the world participate in UFC events.
It was never a possibility as Cyborg was a part of Strikeforce for years and without the promise of consistent fights the UFC had little to offer.
Things changed in 2013 when Strikeforce was disbanded and the new all-female promotion, Invicta FC, signed Cyborg.
Invicta FC and the UFC have a partnership where events are broadcast on UFC Fight Pass and a part of that deal has been the ability to bring Invicta fighters to the UFC, the start of the strawweight division was through a number of Invicta fighters being brought to the UFC.
The UFC decided that they would take their partnership as a chance to bring the best female fighter in the world to the biggest promotion in the world.
Although Cyborg remains a champion in Invicta she has been given the chance to fight select fights in the UFC.
This way she can continue to get fights in Invicta while then making the jump to the bigger show in the UFC.
It hasn’t been without its problems though as the UFC has struggled to find opponents for Cyborg because they don’t have anyone at 145lbs.
Not only that, but there are not a lot of fighters lining up to face Cyborg who regularly knocks out her opponents in brutal fashion.
So the UFC needs to schedule fights that don’t necessarily fit anywhere as her first fight in the UFC was a catchweight at 140lbs.
The same was the case at UFC Fight Night 95 as she was set to take on Lina Lansberg at 140lbs.
That is a tough way to be, especially for Cyborg who struggles just to make it to the 145lbs mark for her Invicta fights.
It has been well-reported that she struggles to get down to 140lbs, she weighed in at 141lbs for this main event, and that is not a good thing.
She has been so dominant for so long and simply wants to prove herself in the biggest promotion but the streak is at risk when she lacks the energy thanks to the weight cut.
Against Lansberg, Cyborg came into the fight after that tough weight cut looking to get the finish and make it an early night.
Not many have been able to push her that far as she has only been in two fights that have gone the distance, her last coming in 2008.
Lansberg was likely looking to see if she could survive for more than a couple of rounds in order to see what the weight cut could do to the best fighter.
It seemed as though that was the strategy when the fight began as Lansberg simply hung around and did just enough to prevent the fight from ending.
The entire first round saw Cyborg unleash whatever she could to try to end the fight but nothing could stop Lansberg that early.
The second round was much of the same until finally Cyborg took the fight to the ground and used her power in a top position to end the fight.
It was a loss for Lansberg who still impressed as she showed a lot of toughness against one of the most devastating strikers in the sport.
For Cyborg it was another win but unfortunately for her the future is entirely uncertain as the UFC looks for another willing participant to fight her.
There are plenty of names (Holm, Tate, Rousey) that everyone wants to see Cyborg fight instead of these younger fighters simply looking to break into the UFC.
If one of the bigger names is willing to fight it could be a big matchup that Cyborg would be more than willing to fight even if it is at a catchweight again.
The Sport Addiction 