Cris Cyborg has revealed that she no longer has plans to stay in the MMA world. In line with this, the Bellator champ plans to fight Kayla Harrison for her final bout despite the PFL planning to set her up against Larissa Pacheco.
Cyborg is a hot commodity among female fighters in the MMA industry. As such, with PFL’s acquisition of Bellator, fighters from the former started making their callouts, including Harrison. However, after making a huge success at the 2023 PFL Championships, Pacheco drew the attention of the promotions, allowing her to get its favor to fight the Bellator champ. According to PFL founder Donn Davis, the company will prioritize the Cyborg-Pachecho fight over Harrison’s demand as “Larissa’s earned that.”
However, with the announcement of the PFL vs. Bellator event lineup, it is noticeable that none of the names of the female fighters were included. But if Cyborg is to be asked, she would want to be paired with Harrison instead of Pachecho. The 38-year-old already made it clear in her recent interview, saying she wants Harrison “first.”
In her latest tweet, nonetheless, there seems to be a significant change as there won’t be a fight after that. According to the fighter, she already talked with her team that she would have her last fight and retire afterward.
“I have told my team I only plan on having 1 more MMA fight before retirement and that if the [PFL] is unable to promote the [Kayla Harrison] fight that I would like them to book you for that match,” Cyborg wrote in the tweet.
“…and I believe everyone wants to see me KO Kayla.”
If this is true, this will be a huge change of plans for the PFL, which already outlined its plans for Cyborg, with Davis stressing a concrete plan for her next two fights against Pacheco and Harrison. Interestingly, the promotion seemingly gave in to Cyborg’s demand, with the fighter earlier claiming that the company reached out to her in December about a fight versus Harrison. However, according to the Bellator fighter’s accusations, it did not materialize as “ the other side didn’t agree because they never send their contract.”
This fight, however, seems no longer possible, especially now that Harrison is now with UFC. Just today, the female fighter signed with the promotion giant and is set to face Holly Holm at UFC 300 for her debut.
