Cris Cyborg steps into the co-main event of PFL Lyon on Saturday to face Sara Collins, marking what could be one of the last two MMA fights of her iconic career.
The former Bellator and Strikeforce champion already plans to retire in 2026, with two bouts left on her PFL deal and hopes of squeezing in a few boxing fights before she walks away for good. At 40, Cris Cyborg still dominates, her lopsided decision win over multi-time PFL champion Larissa Pacheco proved that, but she knows she can’t stay in the cage forever. She’s ready for a new chapter.
“My last fight with [Larissa] Pacheco, I said to everybody I’m starting my legacy tour because I have two fights left on my contract and I’m preparing myself to retire and close this chapter,” Cyborg told MMA Fighting. “For me, next year is going to be the last year for everything. In July, I turned 40 so next year is going to be 41. I don’t have any bad injuries in my career. I’m very blessed about this. I never did one surgery from one injury so thank you God. I feel happy. Next year is going to be 21 years doing the same thing every day and I have different dreams. Among the dreams, I want to be a [veterinarian] and I still want to do this.”
She already knows how she wants this farewell year to look.
“I believe next year is going to be my last year. I have this fight with Sara Collins and then one more on my contract and I’ve already talked with PFL so we’ve planned for my last fight. We talked a little bit about maybe being in Brazil. Then I want to use the opportunity next year to do some boxing fights, too. So my last year, I believe I’ve worked with my team, this will be the last year.”
At this point, Cris Cyborg has nothing left to prove. She held titles in every major promotion, stayed competitive with the world’s best, and built the kind of legacy few fighters can even dream of. With only two losses — one in her pro debut and the other the infamous knockout by Amanda Nunes — she’s earned the right to walk away on her own terms.
She chased the Nunes rematch, but it never happened. Still, she refuses to let it define her.
“Amanda Nunes happened, we fought each other, both from Brazil, that night she was better than me, she got the victory,” Cyborg said. “We never ran from each other. She didn’t give me the rematch. I asked for the rematch, everybody knows the story and she said ‘Cris, I’m not going to give you the rematch.’ She signed the deal that [one] time.
“I choose to follow my new journey. I’ve got two titles in Bellator and I went to PFL. I think I’m seven years undefeated. I think I’m a better fighter for sure. I improved my game.”
As for the opponents fans always bring up, Ronda Rousey and Kayla Harrison, Cyborg doesn’t dwell on those either.
“When I started fighting, I was already champion, Ronda started fighting,” Cyborg explained. “Nobody knows who she is, she started calling me out for people to put attention on her. This is a marketing strategy for them. I don’t believe she had an intention to fight me, to face me in a fight.
“Kayla Harrison, same thing. She was in PFL, I was in Bellator, she called me out all the time. Said my name all the time. She put some [spotlight] on top of her and then never wanted to fight. As soon as I signed with PFL, she left to go to UFC and running from me.”
Cyborg never let the Nunes loss consume her. She learned from it and moved forward, which is why she’s at peace with retirement.
“I believe like this, I started doing sports when I was 12 years old, and one of the things I learned, sometimes you win, sometimes you learn,” Cyborg said. “In MMA, I have two fights I lost. My first fight in my career and after 14 years, I lost again. I feel like I learned in a loss and I showed my fans, you can come back. Sometimes you can go down seven times and you always stand up eight times.
“I really have some fans stop me in the street and say ‘Cris, I started following you after the Amanda Nunes fight because how you take everything after 14 years undefeated in the sport, how you took it, [how you handled the loss] and I started to follow you.’ I think this is an example.”
She hopes Ronda Rousey eventually finds that same strength to face her own career honestly.
“I think Ronda is still upset because she lost the fights and then she quit,” Cyborg said. “She’s a little bit upset at herself and she puts blame on the fans but imagine you follow somebody from the beginning of their career, everything, all the victories, everything and then the person lost and she quits. You say what? People like to [see you] overcome.
“Hopefully she’s coming back where she’s set up her mind better, getting more fights, win and show the young kids, the young girls, you can lose, you can learn and some days you’re going to win. I think you have to learn from that day. I don’t think she learned that day. I think she’s still blaming people. When you blame people for things that happen to you, you’re never going to learn.”
Cyborg doesn’t live in the past. That’s why she’s not haunted by any loss, not even the biggest one.
Cris Cyborg is closing out one of the greatest careers in combat sports, but she’s doing it her way, on her terms, with the same fire she’s carried for 21 years.
