Cris Cyborg could be the next MMA star to try her hand at boxing if she has her way.
Cyborg, preparing to defend her Bellator featherweight title against Arlene Blencowe on Thursday, told Sky Sports that she wants to box and is targeting two-division champion Katie Taylor.
“I like to have challenges,” the 35-year-old Brazilian said. “And I really want a boxing fight. I really like boxing. I’ve tried wrestling, I’ve tried jiu jitsu, I’ve tried Muay Thai. Always when you compete in a separate sport like this, you learn a lot.”
“… I’ve got Arlene Blencowe next in MMA, but if we can do the [Taylor] fight, it will be amazing.”
She went on: “Before I was doing lot of boxing sparring. I was sparring pro boxer Raquel Miller. I was thinking I was going to do boxing, and then we were told it was MMA, so we went back to working on that.”
UFC star Conor McGregor made the biggest splash as a crossover fighter, losing to Floyd Mayweather in a hugely successful fight in 2017.
MMA fighter Clay Collard has had success in boxing but, as he pointed out, he started out as a boxer.
Taylor, from Bray, Ireland, is a former Olympic champion and one of the most-popular pro boxers in the world.