Cris Cyborg says feud with Dana White is dead: ‘Let’s work together’

Reigning UFC women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg will have her chance to shine tomorrow night (Sat., Dec. 30, 2017) at UFC 219 live on pay-per-view (PPV) from inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, when she puts her 145-pound title on the line against former women’s bantamweight queen Holly Holm. The main event scrap will undoubtedly be the most high-profile bout of Cyborg’s career.

That said, it hasn’t been an easy road for Cyborg up until this point. From forcing the Brazilian to compete lower than her natural weight to bashing her with unfair treatment in the public eye, UFC president Dana White admitted earlier this year that the promotion dropped the ball when it came to Cyborg’s on-boarding.

Luckily for fight fans, everything seemed to work out just fine. Not only did Cyborg get the new UFC contract she wanted, but she’s in the driver’s seat of the newly-instated women’s featherweight division. As far as her past troubles with UFC and White, Cyborg is turning the page and moving forward with good intentions.

"The result of this [good relationship] is persistence, not giving up even in the face of adversity," Cyborg said in a recent interview with FloCombat. “Everything changed, I'm very happy that they put me in the main event. It shows to my fans that even when it's difficult, we have to be persistent.”

"[The treatment] It's getting better, it's getting better," Cyborg laughed. “From the moment that he [White] admitted to having made mistakes, from that moment on, I dropped the negative emotions that I had. Now, let's work together."

Considering Cyborg is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, name in women’s mixed martial arts (MMA) today, UFC would have been stupid not to mend the relationship with the featherweight queen. Cyborg offers a unique ability to sell fights, especially in Brazil, and is arguably the most dominate female fighter of all time.

With Cyborg now in the fold and happy with the fair treatment she’s receiving, both her and the promotion can look forward to unparalleled success in 2018. If Cyborg is able to get past Holm this weekend at UFC 219 she’s going to be looking to take on the biggest and baddest contenders around.

"As it is a new division, there will be more fighters at 145 pounds over time," Cyborg said. “Because there are girls at that weight. Next up should be Invicta FC featherweight champion] Megan Anderson. It’s fair to fight the girls who are listed high in the rankings. I hope the next contender will be someone who is listed in the rankings, but I’m only focusing on this fight with Holly Holm now."

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 219 fight card, starting with the Fight Pass "Prelims" matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on FOX Sports 1 at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET.