EDMONTON – Cris Cyborg came into Saturday night with a chip on her shoulder after suffering her first loss in 13 years.
She rebounded with a unanimous-decision win over Felicia Spencer at UFC 240, a fight in which she was patient and calculated with her striking. It was a valuable lesson Cyborg learned from her first-round knockout loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 232, where she lost her featherweight title.
A tough Spencer took Cyborg’s best shots and kept coming, and Cyborg believes she learned a lot from the fight.
“Actually Felicia helped me,” Cyborg said during the UFC 240 post-event news conference. “Something I’ve been working, patience and when I was punching her, I saw her face started changing a little bit, but I continued my focus, what I want to do and just helping me work on my patience and finish the time I’m supposed to finish.”
Cyborg was cut for the first time in her career, when Spencer landed a lead elbow in the first minute. Cyborg was worried that doctors would try to stop the fight.
“It’s a fight. I’ve never had a cut before. It’s the first time,” Cyborg said. “In the gym, a little but not in the fight. You just always have a first time. The first thing I was thinking was I don’t want them to stop the fight because of the cut. I was like I’m not going to ask Jason if it’s a bad cut, because Jason told (Rafael) dos Anjos it wasn’t a bad cut, and it was a really bad cut. I was just thinking about continuing the fight. I didn’t want the doctor to stop the fight.”
Cyborg (21-2-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) continued to press forward on Spencer (7-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC), picking her shots but also throwing heat as she usually does. Cyborg, who has 11 first-round finishes, admitted that she often gets too caught up in finishing fights quickly, forgetting that she has plenty of time to work with.
It was a mistake that cost her against Nunes.
“What happened with Amanda, we fight each other and 50-50 I got caught. This happened,” Cyborg said. “About Felicia, I tried to work different a little bit. I tried to move around, see the opportunities when I have the punch. I think this was a different fight. I have three rounds to finish the fight. I just figured this out now. I always want to finish the fight in the first round, and I’m just learning everyday.”
Since dropping her pro MMA debut, Cyborg won 20 straight before suffering a setback to Nunes. No longer feeling the pressure of invincibility, she came into this fight happy and relaxed.
“I was really happy about this fight, not having any pressure,” Cyborg said. “I was 13 years undefeated, 13 years champion and then so much pressure on my back, I was fighting happy today. Patient, happy, doing my best, and happy to have three rounds to finish the fight, and I tried.
“She’s tough. She moved around. She’s tough.”
