Cris Cyborg, the former UFC champion, doesn’t want Conor McGregor involved in any fight between Katie Taylor and herself. She’s open to fighting the Irish boxer on a long-desired Croke Park homecoming. Cyborg will not be looking for a unification fight with Amanda Serrano. She has much bigger plans for her return on Saturday night when she defends her lightweight world titles against Karen Carabajal at Wembley Arena.
The possibility of a mega-cross-over battle between two greats of the MMA and boxing realms has long been mooted. Crucially, however, Cyborg only wants the fight to be stripped from its current context. She is willing to support it happening in Croke Park – as a momentous occasion for Irish sport. She told the Irish Mirror
I can fight Katie Taylor in Ireland but I don’t think putting Conor McGregor on the same event would be the best way to promote the fight. With Katie and myself you have two of the greatest athletes in combat sports. You would be taking an icon from boxing and an icon from MMA and placing them together in the ring for something legendary and historic. Both Katie and myself have fought our entire career to help create opportunities for other women in our respective sports.
Conor has only won one fight in the past six years and I think with all the controversy he has had outside of the ring, it just wouldn’t be a good fit for an event looking to empower the next generation of women entering combat sports. My team has talked to Katie Taylor’s manager and they met with Eddie Hearn.
I think we had some good conversations but the reality is the sport of women’s boxing is much smaller than the sport of women’s MMA but I’m at a point in my career that if I’m going to fight an opponent of Taylor’s level it has to be for the same type of money I make fighting MMA.
I don’t know what the situation is with her and Amanda Serrano but I have two big fight options in MMA with bouts between either Cat Zingano or Kayla Harrison as superfights that I am looking to make and if talks for a Katie Taylor fight don’t start soon my training focus is going to have to transition back towards MMA to make them happen.
The prospect of a one-on-one UFC versus boxing showdown has not been dismissed entirely but the decision on who should get the first crack at a mega dual between two all-time greats, who have seemingly never ruled out this possibility in the past, remains undecided.
It is a prospective battle that Cyborg remains open for – even if it takes place in GAA HQ – but she doesn’t fancy Katie’s pal Conor McGregor being anywhere near it. A battle between two of the biggest names in MMA and boxing, that could take place inside Croke Park, has been mooted for years. Now Cris Cyborg has further fuelled such a possibility by beating rival Simone Silva inside the confines of the arena.
Would you be rooting for such a bout? Sound off in the comments.
