The question of Cris "Cyborg" Justino leaving the UFC was more a matter of when than if.
The MMA world found out on Wednesday morning when Bellator president Scott Coker revealed that his company signed the all-time great to a multi-year deal which Coker deemed the biggest deal ever given to a female fighter.
I am proud to announce that @BellatorMMA has signed @CrisCyborg to the biggest contract in women’s MMA history.
— Scott Coker (@ScottCoker) September 3, 2019
Welcome to the family. pic.twitter.com/BQM29cCUP3
"My goal is to become the only female fighter to hold four different major world titles in the same division," said Cyborg, who has won championships in Strikeforce, Invicta FC, and the UFC, in a Facebook video.
After a long, winding journey to make it to the UFC in May 2016, Cyborg went 6-1 with five wins coming by stoppage, including winning the vacant women's featherweight belt against Tonya Evinger at UFC 214. During her title reign, Cyborg defeated Holly Holm and Yana Kunitskaya before her shocking 51-second loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 232.
Controversy ensued before Cyborg's final fight on her UFC contract against Felicia Spencer at UFC 240. UFC president Dana White, who has had a long-running feud with Cyborg, kept claiming she didn't want a rematch with Nunes, while the Brazilian said she was willing to sign a one-fight deal to face Nunes.
White balked, and Cyborg went on to beat Spencer by unanimous decision.
A week after that fight, White said the company was out of the Cyborg business after her team released a doctored video of her conversation with White in the backstage area at UFC 240 that inaccurately quoted him. The UFC wound up waiving their 90-day exclusive negotiating window which allowed Cyborg to become a free agent.
It is unknown who Cyborg will face in her Bellator debut, but reigning women's featherweight champion Julia Budd is expected to be at the top of the list.
“I have worked with countless athletes over my thirty-plus years of promoting combat sports, but there is no one quite like ‘Cyborg’,” said Coker, who promoted Cyborg in Strikeforce.
“Her ability to excite the crowd from the moment she makes her walk to the cage is special and having had the pleasure of promoting several of her fights in the past, I am looking forward to the opportunity of promoting her once again.
"‘Cyborg’ is the most dominant female fighter in the history of the sport and she will be a perfect fit here at Bellator, where champion Julia Budd and the other women that make up best female featherweight division in the world have eagerly awaited her arrival.”
