Cris Cyborg wants ‘an opportunity like McGregor’ to box

Cris Cyborg's lone MMA defeat sits way down a long list of victories, all the way to her first professional fight in 2005. But she has a more recent loss outside the cage, a unanimous decision defeat to multiple title Muay Thai champ Jorina Baars from 2014.

That loss is something people tend to bring up when Cyborg talks about competing in different combat sports, but it doesn't deter her from wanting to test herself against the best across all mediums in the future.

"I love to compete," she said during a UFC 219 media call (via MMA Fighting). "I was competing when I was 12-years-old. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose ... but you learn! I like to compete in everything. I like to compete in jiu-jitsu, I like to compete in wrestling and Muay Thai, and if I have a chance to compete in boxing one day, why not? I think when you train in just one sport separately you learn more."

With Dana White recently announcing that the UFC was definitely getting into the boxing game, you'd think Cris Cyborg would be one of those fighters they'd carry across. Cyborg has been regularly training with five-time boxing champion Mia St. John in preparation to face Holly Holm at UFC 219 on December 30th. Holm is also a champion several times over in boxing. So why not?

"It would be really nice to finish my career and maybe do one boxing fight, but I don’t know if that will happen," Cyborg said. "Dana knows that. I told him if I had an opportunity like McGregor to do one boxing fight, yeah I would like to do that."

"I love my job, I love to fight and I love to compete. I don’t want to end my career and think about why I didn’t do it. I want to do it. I must train hard and do what I have in front of me when they have an opportunity for me."

The general attitude of the UFC for years has been to keep the door closed between MMA and boxing to avoid the embarrassment of their biggest stars getting tooled in the ring. But Conor McGregor broke down those walls with his superfight against Floyd Mayweather, and you have to wonder how strict the UFC will continue to be as they start to mix boxing into their business ventures.

Cyborg would be a no-brainer to cross over. Past this fight with Holly Holm in Vegas, the UFC doesn't even seem to have many plans for the 145 pound division. So the question lingers as we head into 2018 and whatever the year will hold for Zuffa Boxing (or whatever they call it): why not?