San Diego, CA — If the build-up to the Bellator 300 co-main event women’s featherweight title fight was a heated one, that was one sided, Cris Cyborg has revealed.
Cyborg (27-2, 1NC) put “Alpha” Cat Zingano, a fellow former UFC star, away via TKO inside of a round on Saturday in San Diego, remaining perfect in Bellator MMA and notching her fifth title defense.
Zingano was no fan of the Brazilian champ ahead of the bout, accusing her of being a bully and claiming Cyborg crossed the line when he camp registered alphacatzingano.com and used it to tout her own accomplishments.
After Saturday’s showdown between the two ended with Zingano being finished, Cat wasn’t done, exchanging words with the champion in the cage.
“Usually I really don’t hate my opponents,” Cyborg said backstage at the Pechanga area, adding there there’s usually no hard feelings after her fights. As to what she said to Zingano, and what was returned, “I just said thank you for her, happy to fight, fight each other. And then she said ‘I don’t want to be your friend,’ she said I was a stalker and stuff like this.”
“The reality is she started this,” stated Cyborg. “She started spreading bad things about me, and I don’t know the reason. She tried turning this personal.”
That having been said, Cyborg attempted to take the high road, website registration or no. “I don’t have anything against Cat Zingano. I always promoted her a nice way. She was the girl that beat Amanda Nunes, she was the girl that beat Miesha Tate, she was a huge name in the sport. And I’m going to continue that. I’m not going to change what I think about her. It doesn’t matter what’s happened tonight.”
With talk of Bellator being sold, Cris Cyborg reiterated her love of working with the promotion’s CEO. “I love Bellator, I love to work with Scott Coker.” While she’s not ready for the promotion to go away, however, “I want to do the biggest fights for my fans.”
Becoming a champion in a fifth major promotion could have some appeal also. “I didn’t think about that, but maybe.”
Cyborg later told Cageside Press how she’s changed over her nearly 20-year career.
“Before I worked more emotionally. Now I can control the emotion. I can go over there cold, have a little less emotion. This last fight I got a lot [emotional] at the weigh-ins because I had a hard time to finish camp, because I got sick, I had to lose weight. It was really like, ‘oh, I made it, I’m here, and I’m ready for tomorrow.'”
The Brazilian recently revealed she contracted COVID-19 during her fight camp for Bellator 300.
Watch the full Bellator 300 post-fight press conference with Cris Cyborg above.
