What options remain for UFC featherweight champion Cris Cyborg?

Cris Cyborg wishes she was given an opportunity to speak after UFC 232 loss

Cris Cyborg was set to have her biggest test to date when she took on Amanda Nunes at UFC 232. Ultimately, that was true as Nunes knocked out Cyborg in just 51 seconds.

However, after the fight Cyborg wanted an opportunity to address her fans inside the Octagon but wasn’t given the opportunity. She was waiting around in the cage after Nunes was handed her belts and talking until she was told to leave.

“They just kicked me out of the cage,” Cyborg said during her post-fight media scrum. “I think (it’s) very bad, very disrespectful because I did a lot for the sport, I was supposed to say hello for my fans and talk to them. I think it’s not right.

“But OK, they did, (it’s) already done, I can go (to the) media and talk to my fans, say how I appreciate them, how them coming to the cage to watch my fight, all Cyborg Nation here to watch me. It’s OK, I just feel like I’m supposed to say something. Two Brazilian fighters, two champions. That’s it.”

Although Cyborg lost the fight, she still is confident she will be a champion again. She knows she had a bad night but is confident she will use this as motivation.

“I always try being the champion in the hearts of everybody. Give them hope, because people (who) follow me knows how hard it was for me and I never showed them I’m quitting, I’m weak, I never showed that,” she said. “But I’m a human being, I have my mistakes, I have a lot of things like everybody here, and I showed them it doesn’t matter you gonna fall, you gonna stand up on your feet and get in there. You just have to believe and have faith.

“This is the thing I want to show to all my fans. When you do that, you are the champion. When you stand up on your feet after you fall, you are the champion. And this is what I tried to show all my fans because I know everybody has hard times and I feel sad because everybody is sad because I lost today.

“For sure I have something to learn today. I don’t know what now, but I know God is gonna show me. I don’t want nobody sad because I’m not gonna be sad.”

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Cole Shelton
Cole Shelton covers MMA for BJPenn.com, MMANews, and MyMMANews.com while also being the lead MMA odds writer for Sports Betting Dime