Just What is Cyborg’s Legacy?

By: Joe Unger

A Brief Examination of the Baddest woman in MMA, before the biggest fight of her life.

This Saturday, Cris Cyborg matches up with Julia Budd for the Bellator Women's featherweight title. Though this weekend is all about Cyborg and her Bellator debut, Budd is as legit as they come. A seasoned pro who hasn’t lost in almost a decade, Budd’s only professional losses come against Ronda Rousey and Amanda Nunes. Budd is trying to stake her claim as the best female featherweight on the planet, and a win over Cyborg will go a long way in helping her case. But what does a win do for Cyborg’s legacy?

For those that don’t know, Cris Cyborg is maybe the closest thing we’ve seen to Ivan Drago in MMA. A bruising, muscled up striker who is known for destroying opponents, Cyborg’s reign of terror of over 10 years came to a halt in December 2018 against current UFC Champ Champ Amanda Nunes. Before that, Cyborg had not lost since her professional debut, dominating across multiple organizations, including Invicta and Strikeforce before she finally made her way to the UFC.

However, Cyborg’s career was not without it’s controversy. There was her positive Stanozol test in 2011, of which Cyborg served her suspension and did her time. There was another violation, when she got flagged by USADA after her UFC debut, for a weight cutting agent. And of course, there was her public spats with Ronda Rousey and Dana White, the latter of which led to Cyborgs surprising and volatile exit from the UFC.

Throughout most of her career, Cyborg was stuck playing second chair to a more mainstream champion. For a fighter as accomplished as Cyborg, it almost defies logic that she hasn’t been a bigger star. Her UFC run was relatively brief (only 7 fights), and it does beg the question of how Cyborg will remembered. So again, the question is posed-does Cyborg need a win over Budd to cement her legacy? Or is her place amongst the greats firmly established?

I should add a caveat to this-I am a huge fan of Cyborg, and have been since she destroyed Gina Carano. I loved Carano at the time, and to see this hulking woman just tear through her like they had no business being in the same cage was a thing of shock and beauty. I was excited when Cyborg finally got her long withstanding UFC title, one she deserved after so many years waiting in the wings. If I had to list my dream match ups that never happened, Cyborg/Rousey would be right up there, and I’d bet the house on Cyborg via first round KO. So I admit, there is some bias here.

That being said, Cyborg is at worst the third best female fighter of all time, and in my books #1. She never reached the heights of stardom that Rousey was able to achieve, and she got absolutely handled by Amanda Nunes (who currently is making her case as female GOAT and maybe one of the best to ever do it). But heres the thing-Rousey didn’t have the sustained success of 13 years that Cyborg did. She didn’t bounce back from a loss like Cyborg could and did. Nunes, who’s current tear I would put up there as maybe the best run in MMA period, has early losses that hurts her case.

So where does Cyborg stand? I think if you made a female MMA Mount Rushmore, you’d have to include her. Her and Nunes are in a 1a/1b situation, and you couldn’t go wrong for putting one above the other. A win over Budd would give Cyborg a fourth major organization title, and a long way in helping cementing her status as the GOAT. A loss would certainly hurt her case. Moreover, it would help Nunes. But no matter what, Cyborg will go down as the scariest female to ever fight, and depending how you look at it, the best.

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