MMA Fighting - Cris Cyborg Signs With Bellator MMA Reaction | The A-Side Live Chat

Episode Date: September 3, 2019

With Cris Cyborg signing with Bellator MMA, MMA Fighting's José Youngs and Alexander K. Lee give their immediate reaction to the former UFC & Strikeforce champion changing things up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. What's up, guys? Jose Young's here. MAMfighting.com. This is not, this I guess is an exception to A-Side, usually being Wednesdays, 10 a.m. Pacific, 1 p.m. Easter time. With me is Alexander Kaley. No, this is not a special episode of the A-Side, even though we do have the A-side.

Trimmings and everything. This is, and I can hear myself streaming, so this is great. Chris Seiborke has officially signed with Bellator MMA. With me is Alexander Kaley to give our immediate reaction, former Strike Force champion, former UFC champion, pretty much been a champion. than every organization she's banned. So this news is what? One, maybe two minutes old, Scott Coker teased,

Bellator president, Scott Coker, teased. The big signing was coming. And now it is official. Chris Cyborg has put pen to paper with Bellator, MMA. Alex, your immediate reaction to Chris Cyborg jumping from the U.S. to Belator. An excellent signing.

I do want to say we just got, I think people just saw after the tweet from Scott Coker, Chris Cyborg also put out our own tweet, and we just got the, official release from bills to where that came out fast. They are officially saying it is the largest contract in women's MMA history. So a multi-year multi-fight contract. Obviously, they're not giving out exact details.

But that is apparently of this, this high of Branson, not just bringing in, arguably, you know, the greatest female fighter of all time, but under the biggest deal of all time for a female fighter. So that is, that's quite the feather in their cap to be able to say that. But, I mean, yeah, look, I think a lot of people predict it. that this was going to happen as soon as the as soon as she parted ways with the UFC. Her old buddy Scott Coker from the Strike Force days, it's just a partnership that makes sense. It's almost like they've been building a featherweight division

for Cyborg all along, so she gets to walk in into a pretty great scenario. So really, there's not much to say other than very smart signing and can't wait for her first booking. And who do you think should be your first matchup? I mean, the answer, I think everyone's mind is going to be Julia Budd, who's the reigning Bellethor featherweight champion. Is that the fight to make right?

away or would you like to see Chris Seiborke maybe take one fight cement herself as the normal contender and then fight Julia Bud or is she such a big name and former champion like I said all of her promotion pretty much every promotion she's been in she's been the champion is Julia Bud versus Chris Seiborke the fight to make first yes just make the fight right away just book it it's the fight to make is the fight everyone wants to see Julia Bud has been calling it for it for like two years now I think I believe Cyborg is also acknowledged her she's aware of that Julia Bug is there is the fight to make it's the fight to make it's the fight everyone wants to see Julia Bud is the fight to see she's been calling it's been the champion of Vel-Torren is arguably, you know, the other top feathering the world, one of the top of three, almost by any measure. So just make it happen. You know, it's great to say, oh, you know, maybe we give Cyborg a warm-up, maybe we give a Bud in the defense, build the fight up more. I'm not sure you can build the fight up more. I know Bud isn't exactly a household name compared to Cyborg, but it doesn't take a lot

to sell Bud. I think if people, she's a, you know, she's Canadian, which is, I mean, I think is great. but she's got a great physique. She's been on a great run as Belator champions so far. It's not a hard sell. And Cyborg, you know, again, she's one of the most popular female fighters in anime history. So just make it happen. I say don't mess around.

Book it. Is there anyone else, you're on the Belator roster that you would like to see her match up? Well, I mean, Belator doesn't shy away from having fighters go up and down weights too. So is there any other fighter, maybe even at Phantomweight? you would like to see you go up and challenge cyborg. Gosh, honestly, no. I just don't think there's any good reason. I'm looking at some of the fight.

I know Oglin, she just got matched up with Shane Kavanaugh. Certainly if whoever won that fight, if you wanted one of them to be a warm-up for Cyborg, how bad it, it just seems pointless. I just think you got to go with this right away. There's no other fight as intriguing as this one. Bud does not have an obvious number one contender. So, no, there's frankly no.

who can, I feel like in any division right now, that's worth matching Cyborg up with the size bud, but let's just go with that. And we both, we both talked about how Bellator was the most logical destination for her. She has the history with Scott Coker. She, she, she, uh, it was basically the worst kept secret in MMA where she was going to go. She was kind of teasing it on Twitter. Bellatory did that, that montage. I don't know if you saw it believe it was before the last Bellator card.

They asked all of the fighters sell Bellator to Chris Seibor. Like they put a video out there on their own social media. And Cyborg, like, quote, tweeted it with, like, ear emojis. Like, you won't get to see the rematch of the man in Newness anytime soon. But looking at when I, after the news broke, I was looking at the replies to the stories. Because like you said, it's like one of the biggest stories out there right now. As soon as the story broke, we were getting reactions and everything. A lot of people were saying, well, there goes the Kayla Harrison fight.

What does this do for Bellator now going down the road that they have one of the big. biggest female stars in all of MMA history, one of the most dominant fighters ever, is this enough to bring female fighters, specifically featherweights? Because like you said, there's not a lot of featherweights in the UFC. Chris Cyborg is now in Belator. Julia Budd is in Belator. Is this enough to kind of make, draw women to Belator over the UFC? I don't know if I can go that far.

We'll say one thing. Okay, well, the Belator featherweight division, the depth of it, a women's featherweight. It's probably been a little overstated, though it's certainly strong in comparison to the UFC, if only because it exists. So it is exponentially stronger than the UFC, featherweight division. They don't have a women's featherweight division. Do I think this will make a lot of fighters clamor to come to Bellator? Not necessarily, but I do think it does make it more appealing for someone, like say, a Megan Anderson in the future, should she part ways of the UFC. I think she would love to go to Belator and be.

end up just be like one fight away from fighting cyborg. That's still a fight that people want to see, I imagine. Katzen Gano has always wanted to fight Cyborg whenever she decides to resume her career. That's an option. I know, again, she hasn't had the greatest success recently, but she is a name. And yes, maybe even Kayla Harrison someday. I don't know if she ever makes 145, but there's no reason Beltor can make a, just book, a one-time, 150-pound catch-rate or even 155-pound fight between Harrison and Cyborg.

I'm sure PFL would have something to say about that. I'm sure it's their dream to have Cyborg, that fight. happen in their promotion someday, but it could certainly happen in Bellator now. Again, now that they, just by the fact that they have Cyborg, they now can bring in people to match up. The first part of the equation is the most important part, Cyborg, the rest of it, you can just fill in because she's, sorry, keep going off, but I'll just say she's always been a strong TV draw, if not pay-per-view.

And that doesn't really matter for Belator. They just need TV viewers. Maybe it'll help with his own subscriptions. I don't know about that, but she is a name that Koker can build events around. So in that sense, it really works. she can always rematch Leslie Smith, who's recently signed a Belatorial compete with their featherweight division. But she can also do, I believe, well, not even I believe.

It opens the door for possible fighting and rising. If they do more co-promotion, and I see you smiling over there, how excited are you to see Chris Seiborgan in a squared circle down the road? If that is where they want to go with it. Listen, I love watching Gabby Garcia squash, a 50-year-old former pro wrestlers, and I love watching Chris Cyborg even more, squashing 50-year-old former pro wrestler. So, yes, if they don't get at least one rise in appearance out of Cyborg,

what was all this for? What a shame that would be if that never happened. So I don't know who they match her up without their... I believe her and Gabby are friends. I think they're more... They're teammates and very close friends. I think it's safe to say they'll never fight each other. They might do a grappling exhibition or something once.

I remember they do all kinds of crazy stuff there. I remember once Fador and Shinyaoki did like a grappling thing once, which is pretty cool. So maybe Gabby and Chris would agree to that, but not a fight. But they'll find someone out there. That's the beauty of Japanese MMA. If you want to fight, it doesn't matter what your style is. They'll find someone to fight you. So Cyberg has to go over there at least once

as part of this Bell Tour deal, because that might be the most fun part. So what happens with the UFC right now? I mean, that is the big story was, Chris Seid, we were both at Edmonton. Amanda Nunes was walking around backs, I mean, not Amanda Nunes. Chris Severs walking around backstage. she was at the post she had to take the shirt off for the press comments but it said nunes versus cyborg to like january 2020 that's obviously not going to happen anytime soon what's going to happen to the u.ss featherweight division and second part will we ever see

that rematch it gun to your head will we ever see cyborg versus amanda nunes too down the road uh i have a prediction for later so which is more outlandish so i have to say i never say never for sure for sure we could see it somewhere down the road i think think it would it just it's impossible to me to imagine happening in Bellsor though I think I feel like Amanda Nunez is someone who's gonna make enough money in her career that when she's

done with the UFC she's just gonna retire so that that that does depend on sidewalk someday return to the UFC which I wouldn't rule out I know so much has been made of her acrimonious relationship with Dana White but man in this business you just never know if the if the price is right suggest later

but again like what's the u.sss featherweight division now like megan anderson uh manna nunez nunezhen gano's gone chris cyborg is gone germane deranini the former the inaugural champion is now fighting for the 135 pound champion against amanda nez like if she wins maybe they rematch it featherweight what is the lasting legacy of the uc's women's featherweight division if this is it they never had one right it never had one it's fine to have a champion there's nothing wrong with that I know it sounds stupid to say how can you have a division, no division and have a champion. You know, belts are props.

The UFC doesn't need to say that, oh, she's a champion of our division. She's the champion of all, you know, because she won in our promotion. She's the champion of all 145ers around the world. You know what I mean? We don't have a division, but whatever. They're out there and Cyborg's the best one and we have her. She's the champion because we say so and we have the belts. But they never had division.

So really nothing changes except that I don't think. we see Amanda Nunez fight at their weight again for a long time. I think it's over. I think they just have to accept that there's no point in trying to have everyone jump through hoops to try and make some furtherweight title fight happen. It's just no reason for it. And there's no reason for it. There's no contenders. There's no division. Nunez can call herself the champ, champ, champ, all she wants still. It doesn't matter. But she should just focus on taking more fights at 135 and going from there. And I think it really depends on how that Jermaine the random fight plays out. to Jermaine Duranee, maybe they do rematch at 145.

Jermaine Duranum is former featherweight champion. Maybe she wants to be a champ champ. So this is, obviously we have to wait for that fight to play out. But I think if Amanda Nguyennes wins, Megan Anderson is out there. I know she has a fight coming up. So we'll see. And she's like, she's popular on the internet. She's, she's well spoken.

She's obviously coming off a loss. But she's the next woman up. She's the next woman up. But so finally, well, before, I go to your prediction is do you now consider Chris Seibor the uncrowned champion of Bellator? Is it only a matter of time before she has Bellator gold wrapped around her waist?

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Charming me disrespect my fellow Canadian. Julia Budd, like, I'm not going to do that. Well, there's your answer. I've disrespected her enough by, like, picking against her. I've disrespected her enough by picking against her in title fights. So I already owe Julia enough apologies. No, listen, Julia Bud is a champion of her.

That's how it is. And she is very worried. She looked amazing in her last, probably her last two fights, I'd say she looks like definitively, like a champion, no question. So, I mean, if I, you know, if I were a gambling man and I had to pick today, of course I'd pick Saboy. I think she's the second best fighter in the world at 145 behind Amanda Nunez. But Julia Budd is really good. You know, she's great. And she's been on a run ever since losing to Nunez and Rousey because there's only two

career losses. So until that happens, though, until she faces subwork, no, Julia Bud is the champion of Belator. I will give her her respect. I don't care about rankings, who have been ranked above who now. It doesn't matter now because now we can find out for real who's better when they face off within, hopefully before the end of year. And I think this also, I've asked a lot of Bellator fighters this. If Chris Seibor comes in there and wins and Lima beats McDonald in the rematch, they have what, her, they have Patricio Pitbull who's Champ Champ Champ. They have Lima who would be Welterweight Champion.

That's a lot of Brazilian champions in Bellator. How would they not go to Brazil? I asked Pitbull and Lima this when I was in Chicago before they fought. And they're like, well, duh, we have to go. It's only a matter of time. Yeah. I thought for a second there, you were going to propose a bell between Aleema and Cyborg. And I was going to be like, no, settle down.

I'm not. I'm not. Nobody wants them. I don't want Elima versus Cyborg. I don't want any of that. But anyway, before we wrap this up really quick, AK, final thoughts, predictions, notes, anything you want to share on Chris Seibor, officially putting pen to paper with Bellator MMA. Yeah, I got so for you.

Okay. Listen, Listen, Cyborg turned 34 this year. I don't think she ends her career with Bellator. I know it makes sense to. Again, it's a nice way to have heard of go off and the sunset going off working with a person that she'd work with before. Someone she respects, again, maybe one or two, two or three more big fights. But I don't know if all those big fights are in Bellator.

So she should be spending the last few years as a mercenary. I know this is a fan thing. I know it's kind of a sick way of looking at it, but I think she should be immersed there. I want to see her fight in one. I want to see her fight in the PFL. I want her to go there and fight Kayla. I want to see a return to the UFC someday

for an out-of-nowware cash grab fight with a returning Rhonda Rousey. Let's get crazy. Let's get crazy, Cyborg. You live your life, girl, all right? You live your life. You know, however many fights you have left, live your life. Get that way.

A.A.W. this weekend. She posted a Photoshop of her and Cody Rhodes throwing down in the AEW ring. For me, this is Jose Young's. I think, yep, that way, Alex Keeley, this has been our immediate reaction to former Strike Force, former UFC, former pretty much every, like I said, every promotion, Chris Heiborke has been in. She has been the champion.

She has now officially signed with Belator MMA after Acrimony split with the UFC. Her and Danaway obviously had. There's a lot of bad blood in there. I don't know if that will ever, I don't know if that will ever healed. AK is very much on the time. Heels all wounds. We eventually saw an accident in the UFC. We still have never seen Fadorn in the UFC.

So who knows what will happen, but for now, the things we know is Chris Cyborg is officially a Bellator MMA fighter. I've been Jose. That's been, that's been Alex. We'll see you. We'll all see you tomorrow on the A side. Alex, you can check all of his stuff out. And of course, Casey Esther and Pete Zer out in Abu Dhabi for USC 242 all week. Stick around on the YouTube page.

And with that, we're out.