Cris Cyborg Matt Davies/Pix Images/Ikon Sportswire via Getty Images
The legend of Cris Cyborg grew even bigger on Saturday as the legendary fighter added the PFL Women’s Super Featherweight Championship to her trophy case with a unanimous decision win over Larissa Pacheco in the co-main event on a PFL pay-per-view card from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Arabia.
Cyborg took the early lead in a first round that saw good moments for both fighters. However, Cyborg had a strong takedown early and landed a head kick that rocked her opponent and got Pacheco in trouble.
Plenty of opponents folded when Cyborg started landing cleanly but that wasn’t Pacheco’s style. She continued to fire and opened two nasty wounds on each of the Bellator champion’s eyes.
Pacheco turned things around in the third round. She threw her strikes with more confidence, opening wounds in Cyborg’s eyes and knocking her opponent down to log some control time.
She took that momentum into the fourth round and seemed to win it with more volume than Cyborg gave. The close round set up a deciding fifth round with the feeling that it could have been two rounds each.
In the end, it was Cyborg who was able to dig deep and score enough points in the fifth and final round to pick up the decision win.
The win gives Cyborg world titles in five different organizations. From Strikeforce to Invicta to the UFC and PFL, she has proven herself against the best competition in the world and will go down as one of the greatest fighters of all time.
The Brazilian was last seen in the cage defending her Bellator Championship against Cat Zingano, but the PFL’s takeover of the rival promotion has opened the door for Cyborg to capture another championship in another promotion.
After nearly 20 years of dominating the sport of mixed martial arts, Cyborg has taken a brief detour into boxing, earning two knockout wins in the ring in 2024. Her professional record in the fine science now stands at 4-0.
It’s given the 39-year-old some new things to work towards and she’s looking forward to staying sharp.
“It was something different from what I usually do in mixed martial arts. In boxing, there is a lot to learn and it helped me improve my footwork, striking, avoiding a hit, and a lot of other things. I’m ready and I feel good going into this fight,” she told reporters. .
The PFL primarily runs a seasonal tournament format that Pacheco has dominated in recent years. The 30-year-old was the 2022 lightweight champion and 2023 featherweight champion, setting up this bout for the organization’s featherweight ‘Super Fight Championship’.
Given Cyborg’s age, it’s hard to imagine her competing in the tournament format, but the possibility of facing the tournament champion could be an interesting next step for her.