Cat Zingano has a big fight to focus on this Friday at Bellator 293, where she’ll meet Leah McCourt in what is likely a No. 1 contenders fight in the women’s featherweight division.
Cris Cyborg, on the other hand, is nowhere to be found. In fact, it’s coming up on a year since the reigning women’s 145-pound champion last stepped in the cage. That’s because her time with the Bellator remains in limbo after she fought out her contract, but she isn’t quite a free agent.
And yet, Cyborg has made claims of Zingano ducking her. Zingano can’t even take that seriously.
“She’s not even with the promotion, so I don’t know how you duck someone,” Zingano said Wednesday during Bellator 293 media day. “She tells me to sign a contract, but she has two contracts to sign to even get back in the promotion. I feel like she’s kind of a crazy lady yelling from the street corner right now, just trying to get anyone to talk to her, anyone to pay attention to her. She’s always complaining. She’s always got something negative to say.”
Zingano, who is 3-0 since joining Bellator in 2020, has said before that she’d love to fight Cyborg. Zingano, 40, had only one opportunity to win a major title in her career before, back in 2015 when she lost to then-UFC women’s bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey in 14 seconds at UFC 184.
Another shot at gold, this time in Bellator, would be nice, but Zingano has business to take care of first against McCourt. If she does that and if Cyborg straightens out her situation with Bellator, she’ll be ready to get the ball rolling.
But for now?
“At this point, I kind of ignore her,” Zingano said. “Once those real conversations start happening, then we can do something about it. But right now it’s just noise. She’s noisy.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 293.