Manager: 'Only hope' of Cyborg in the UFC is catchweight fight vs. Holm

Invicta FC featherweight champion Cris Cyborg's potential future in the UFC has been discussed to death over the past few years. The primary focus has been on Cyborg facing Ronda Rousey in a superfight between the dominant champions of women's featherweight and bantamweight. It's a fight that has never materialized and now looks dead in the water following Rousey's knockout loss to Holly Holm at UFC 193.

The big sticking point for Cyborg is the UFC's own demands that she drop to bantamweight and win at least 1 fight before talks about a Rousey superfight could get rolling. Now with the landscape vastly changed over the past few months, Cyborg's manager, George Prajin, tells ESPN's Brett Okamoto that it's highly unlikely she'll ever compete in the UFC, and that hope involves a Holm vs. Cyborg match-up.

"Our only hope is a Hail Mary -- a longshot," Prajin said. "It's the UFC seeing value in a Holly Holm vs. Cyborg catchweight fight. They have a division to protect. If Holly fights Cris at UFC 200 and gets smashed, it lowers her value as a champion. I'm sure they don't want to do that.

"We still feel Cris is the only money fight out there for Holly besides a Rousey rematch. If Holly beats Miesha Tate [at UFC 196 on March 5] and then Ronda decides she doesn't want to fight or loses to Holly again, the only fight that would make sense for Holly would be Cris.

The 30-year-old Cyborg (15-1, 1 NC) defended her Invicta FC title in January, knocking out Daria Ibragimova with just 1 second left in the opening round. Despite talks about her potentially fighting Invicta FC bantamweight champion Tonya Evinger, it looks like Evinger and Cyborg will instead defend their respective titles.