Cris Cyborg is coming back. The Brazilian confirmed in an interview with MMA Sucka that she plans to compete in mixed martial arts again, even though her Aug. 22 win over Ketlen Vieira at PFL Tampa closed out her time with the Professional Fighters League and was initially believed to be the last MMA fight of her career.
The interviewer asked her directly whether she’d return. She didn’t hedge.
“Yes, I will fight MMA again,” Cyborg said. “I think my performance against Ketlen Vieira proved I am still able to compete against the very best in the sport.”
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That Vieira fight is the whole foundation of her argument. Cyborg took a unanimous decision over 25 minutes in Tampa, moving her professional record to 30-2. It came with an asterisk on the scale, though. Vieira missed weight by more than seven pounds, and Cyborg made sure to bring that up while giving her opponent credit.
“Ketlen was tough and certainly felt extremely strong,” she said. “But even though she missed weight by over seven pounds, I was able to display great footwork and fight IQ to win four out of the five rounds. I landed almost double the strikes she landed over our 25-minute fight.”
Those numbers are her own count, but they line up with the result on the cards. Five rounds against a bigger, heavier opponent, and the judges never had a reason to split.
Sherdog put the reversal plainly on X, posting that “Cris Cyborg’s final PFL fight won’t be her MMA farewell after all.” The story spread from there, with Yahoo Sports and MiddleEasy picking up the MMA Sucka interview within hours.
What comes next
Nothing concrete yet. MiddleEasy reported that no opponent, date or promotion has been announced for her next MMA appearance. So the PFL chapter is finished, and the next one doesn’t have a venue. Cyborg didn’t name a target or a destination in the interview, only that she intends to keep fighting.
That leaves a lot of open space for a fighter with 32 pro bouts on her ledger. She has made it clear she isn’t treating Tampa as a sendoff. In her view it was proof of form.
My take: the farewell talk was always a little early for somebody who just went five hard rounds and, by her own account, won four of them while giving up more than seven pounds. Fighters at 30-2 get to choose their own exit, and Cyborg looked at the tape and decided this wasn’t it. She’s earned that call. What she needs now is an opponent who actually makes the weight, because her last win came with a weigh-in footnote attached. Whoever signs her next should make sure the scale isn’t the headline of her next fight too.
