Cris Cyborg has since responded to the allegation that Kayla Harrison left the PFL to duck Cyborg. This sentiment was put out there by Julianna Pena at a press conference ahead of her looming fight with Harrison. Pena will look to defend her bantamweight championship against Harrison in the co-main event of UFC 316 which transpires on June 7.
During an interaction on Bowks Talking Bouts, Cyborg addressed Pena's comments and said:
"Julianna Pena, she is right, you know. We were supposed to fight Kayla Harrison then she run away. So we call her Kayla Gump. So everybody should call her Kayla Gump. So let's see. I'm excited for this next fight... I believe in both's grappling, you know. I think Julianna Pena can keep the fight stand up."
She added:
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"But I think she's gonna have to defend the takedown with Kayla Harrison. I think maybe can be too strong for Julianna Pena on the grappling but maybe she'll do different work. Like keep stand up, work her jab, move around... I don't know what's the strategy plan and we don't know to how Kayla's gonna be cutting from 135. I know it's really hard."
With former two-division UFC champion Amanda Nunes seemingly targeting a return to the cage to face the Kayla Harrison vs. Julianna Pena victor, Cris Cyborg stated:
"She's saying she wanna come on back soon. Soon vs. the winner of the fight against Julianna Pena. I think she'd like to fight Kayla Harrison. It's a great fight for her, you know. But she's not been fighting for three years and Kayla has been active. It will be an interesting fight to watch."
Check out Cris Cyborg's thoughts below (5:34):
Cris Cyborg focused on boxing/MMA titles and offers up a retirement timeline
While Cris Cyborg is set to next don the boxing gloves against Precious Harris-McCray at Fight Night San Jose 3 on May 17, the 39-year-old also indicated that we would be hearing news of her next PFL fight shortly after the dust settles this weekend.
Cyborg indicated during the above interview that she aspires to hold titles concurrently in both boxing and MMA before she decides to hang up the gloves for good.
Her focus is on taking two more MMA fights, keeping up with boxing competition, and then ending her competitive combat sports career in 2026.