UFC 240: Cris Cyborg plots path back to Amanda Nunes at expense of Felicia Spencer
Cris Cyborg suffered her first defeat since 2005 when she came face-to-face with the all-conquering Amanda Nunes in her last bout and will look to repair a bruised ego when she takes on the undefeated Felicia Spencer at UFC 240.
The concept of defeat is an alien one to Cris Cyborg, a fighter whose entire career has been built on a foundation of near invincibility. However, that image was shattered by current UFC 'champ champ' Amanda Nunes last December when Cyborg lasted just 51 seconds in the cage with her thunder-fisted compatriot.
Also on rt.com ‘Baddest woman on the planet’: Reaction to Nunes' stunning UFC 232 win over CyborgCyborg's stock has taken an understandable hit in the months since that fight. The Brazilian, 34, has just one bout remaining on her UFC contract and there has been no indication that a fresh deal will be signed, though a return to the type of dominant performances which had marked her as the 'baddest woman on the planet' could persuade UFC brass to open their checkbook to retain her services.
Much like Ronda Rousey before her, Cyborg essentially had a UFC division created to showcase her talents. She was the jewel in the crown of a UFC women's featherweight category which sometimes struggled to find suitable contenders to challenge her, with the likes of Leslie Smith, Lina Lansberg, Tonya Evinger and Yana Kunitskaya all easily dismissed by Cyborg's concussive striking attack - until bantamweight champion Nunes was drafted up a division late last year.
Felcia Spencer, Cyborg's opponent in this weekend's UFC 240 co-main event in Edmonton, Canada, presents an entirely different challenge. Undefeated at 7-0, four of those wins have come by submission - the most recent of which was an impressive first-round rear-naked choke win against Megan Anderson in May.
Prior to that, Canadian Spencer dominated the all-female Invicta FC, with six wins in three years and four of those by tap-out.
The trouble for Spencer is that in addition to the experience and striking deficit she faces on Saturday, Cyborg has traditionally shown little weakness when it comes to ground attacks since a submission defeat in her professional debut 14 years ago.
Spencer must earn Cyborg's respect in this fight early, lest she fall into the web of strikes that can flummox even the most experienced fighters on the roster and any failure to establish herself early in the fight will hand momentum, and a likely TKO victory, to a fighter who until recently appeared to have no equal at 145lbs.
UFC 240: Max Holloway looks to extend featherweight dominance against Frankie Edgar
If a rematch against Amanda Nunes is indeed Cyborg's ultimate goal, she has 25 minutes to make her case on Saturday night. Anything other than that could be ruinous for the once-dominant champion.
Full UFC 240 fight card
- Max Holloway (c) vs. Frankie Edgar
- Cris Cyborg vs. Felicia Spencer
- Geoff Neal vs. Niko Price
- Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. Arman Tsarukyan
- Marc-Andre Barriault vs. Krzysztof Jotko
- Viviane Araujo vs. Alexis Davis
- Hakeem Dawodu vs. Yoshinori Horie
- Gavin Tucker vs. Seung Woo Choi
- Alexandre Pantoja vs. Deiveson Figueiredo
- Gillian Robertson vs. Sarah Frota
- Erik Koch vs. Kyle Stewart
- Tanner Boser vs. Giacomo Lemos
- Lauren Murphy vs. Mara Romero Borella
