There’s possibly no fighter more feared in their division than Cris Cyborg. Jon Jones is a devastating puzzle yet to be solved, Brock Lesnar has been defeated before, but Cris Cyborg not only physically dominates her opponents, but destroys them with near-perfect technique in BJJ, wrestling, and striking. Featherweight champ Cyborg’s UFC 219 opponent, former UFC bantamweight champ Holly Holm, doesn’t seem too concerned. She’s been here before.
Although the odds against her are nothing compared to her historic upset against Ronda Rousey, the three to one underdog is getting a similar feeling leading up to her fight.
“I think there are similarities with the feeling of it, and just knowing that people are having a little bit of doubt. But I think that because I’ve done this more than once now, in boxing and it’s probably even more seen with Ronda, to be the underdog and come in — I think that people think, ‘Oh, OK, well Holly is capable of doing some of [these] things,’ so I feel like there’s more of curiosity behind it. Not necessarily just thinking I can’t do it, but kind of, ‘Hmm, I wonder if she’s going to do it this time.’”
In fact, you could argue that Holly Holm is by far Cris Cyborg’s toughest opponent ever. Not only is she a boxing and kickboxing champion, but she’s defeated some of the best the UFC has to offer in her (admittedly relatively thin) divisions. If she head kicks Cyborg into oblivion at UFC 219, we might be surprised, but she won’t be.
Let’s not forget that Cyborg’s last loss came against a confident Muay Thai practitioner. Granted, the rules were different, and Cyborg is sure to wear out Holm against the cage before raining down strikes, but anything can happen.
(Via Sherdog)
