It's been hinted at for months that Cris Cyborg has some sort of deal in place with the UFC. Recently, she sent a statement to MMAJunkie, calling out Ronda Rousey telling the bantamweight champion to "stop with the reckless steroid allegations" and that "Lorenzo had signed her." That's a much plainer position than past reports, that she may have a joint deal in place between Zuffa and Invicta, or that Zuffa is paying some, if not all of her Invicta purses. But what exactly does it mean? That wasn't quite clear until today.
Combate took Cyborg's statement as a declaration of her entry to the UFC, and that's sort of the case. Here's what she had to say:
Your excuses for not fighting me are falling almost as fast as you will when I get you in the cage - stop with the reckless steroid allegations- I am clean! You know I have passed multiple test, including random testing- lets do Olympic random testing you and I- like Mayweather/Pacquiao- and one less excuse for you to hide behind - Lorenzo signed me- I'm back and coming for you - but you will either retire to movies or run to 125 like you ran from me at 145- you will never be the best until you fight the best- step up- it takes two to scrap- don't be scared- the fans see me coming and you talking- have some respect for the fans- it's embarrassing how you will go up in weight to fight Gina or Leila but not me- regardless I'm coming for you- make an effort instead of just hiding behind excuses - you may have 99 excuses not to fight me - but not being in the UFC ain't one.
Could it be that Cyborg is skipping out on a planned Invicta bout this summer, and going straight to the UFC? It seems unlikely, what with Rousey already booked against Correia. Recent statements from Cyborg's manager say that they had planned to take a bout at 145 in July, and then work on making the full drop to 135 by fall, for a title fight by the end of the year. Ariel Helwani confirmed that that plan is still in place on twitter:
Sounds like Cyborg isn't quite in the UFC exactly, but this makes it official that the moment the UFC wants to make that fight, they can.