Cris Cyborg, arguably the most feared woman in MMA, says she prayed for a fight with Ronda Rousey moments before the fight started.
But those prayers would ultimately go unanswered as Holly Holm would go on to defeat Rousey by knockout, thus flushing Cyborg’s chances for a huge fight and a potentially career-high payday down the drain. Instead, she finds herself opposite the woman that toppled Rousey as she headlines her first UFC event.
Cyborg told BSO on the day of the KO heard around the world she prayed in the bathroom by herself for a fight against Rousey.
“I never talked to nobody about that. I was at a friend’s house.
Before the fight, a couple minutes before I went to the restroom by myself and I bowed down on my knee and I pray and I said God knows I want to fight Ronda but I leave it in your hands.
And on that day, Holly beat Ronda and it changed everything.
As she prepares to face Holm on December 30 in Las Vegas at UFC 219 Cyborg says although she’s never fought anyone like Holm, she knows that she will not only run a lot but she doesn’t have the ability to kill (KO) her opponents in the ring.
I’ve never fought somebody like Holly, but she’s never fought somebody like me. Holly, she’s never killed anybody in boxing. They were always decisions, never finished because they were knocked out. She has a lot of kicks. She has a nice game, and she runs a lot.
It’s going to be new for me, too, because I’ve never fought anybody who runs so much. But I have five rounds to catch her.
To see Cris Cyborg’s full statements on Holly Holm and Ronda Rousey plus Khabib Nurmagomedov discussing his bout against Edson Barboza, flip the page.