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What's the story?
Cris Cyborg's immediate future has been one of the biggest talking points in the aftermath of her loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 232. It's a known fact that Cyborg has one fight left on her contract and according to Chael Sonnen, the negotiations between the former Featherweight Champion and UFC may not have panned out the way fans had imagined.
In case you didn't know...
Nunes grabbed all the headlines from the final PPV of UFC's calendar year by pulling off what many feel is right up there with the greatest upsets of all time. The Lioness took just 51 seconds to end the invincible aura of Cyborg as she went on to become the first ever dual UFC champion in women's MMA history.
The emphatic performance has also given Nunes the tag of being the greatest women's fighter of all time, a sentiment that has been echoed by a majority of the fans and pundits.
Nunes may have a busy 2019, but where does the loss leave Cyborg?
The heart of the matter
Sonnen put out a video analysing the Nunes vs. Cyborg fight and interestingly enough, the Bad Guy revealed the backstory of Cyborg's status with the UFC that didn't make the news.
The former UFC Light Heavyweight contender said that as of this moment, Cyborg is a free agent. He explained that usually when a fighter reaches the end of his or her contract in big promotions such as the UFC and Bellator, the top brass initiate talks of a contract renewal.
He said that most fighters coming off wins or who are champions unsurprisingly say yes, but when Cyborg was approached before her UFC 232 fight regarding a contract extension, the Brazilian flatly said no. Sonnen claims that Cyborg played her cards in such a way that she intended on running out her contract to become a free agent as champion.
It seems she reportedly wanted to keep her options open and could have been contemplating leaving the UFC. The situation, now though, is wholly intriguing as Cyborg lost her first fight in over 13 years.
What's next?
Cyborg has mentioned her desire to competed in a rematch against Nunes and in all likelihood, the UFC may book the fight for 2019. In her post-fight press conference, Cyborg said that she had found a new drive to fight after losing and seemed hungry to reclaim the featherweight title.
She may have been in two minds heading into the fight if Sonnen is to be believed, but the loss should have helped her come to a conclusion.
The starved UFC featherweight division needs Cyborg to stick around as it may just crumble without the star it was originally built around.
