The Women’s Freestyle wrestling competition won’t be kicking off at the Rio Olympics until August 17, but you can get a little preview of Team Brazil’s Aline Ferreira as she trains with mixed martial arts fighter Cris Cyborg. It’s a testament to Cyborg’s well rounded skills that the fearsome striker is not only able to hang with an Olympic caliber wrestler, but actually win a match against her.
Cyborg fights at 145 pounds and often has issues getting opponents at that weight class. But that’s not a problem when it comes to Olympic wrestling. Ferreira competes in the 75kg division, which works out to 165 pounds. Perhaps some more of these larger female athletes from Olympic sports will end up making the transition to MMA and we can finally have a more fleshed out women’s featherweight division. As it stands, the division is so shallow that the UFC refuses to include it on their roster.
If the Olympians do end up crossing over, they’re probably going to have to fight Cris Cyborg. And based on Cyborg’s performance in this video and her 16-1-1 record with 14 knockouts, it will take more than just an Olympic pedigree to intimidate the Brazilian champion. Her next fight takes place on September 25 at UFC Fight Night 95 against Muay Thai fighter Lina Lansberg, but she continues to petition for a match with the original female Olympic crossover star, Ronda Rousey.
That fight is nowhere closer to happening than it was two years ago, but with Cyborg taking regular fights in the UFC at 140 pound catchweights, she’s finally getting her due as the most dominant fighter in women’s mixed martial arts.
