TEMECULA — Twenty-four months.
If life goes according to plan, that’s how much time Cris Cyborg, arguably the most devastating female fighter ever, has before hanging up her brain-rattling gloves for good.
Considering where the 38-year-old Brazilian intends to go by the close of business in 2025, her appearance against an unremarkable opponent inside a ballroom at the Pechanga Resort Casino on Friday night was less about her 44th professional contest – encompassing mixed martial arts, boxing, grappling and Muay Thai kickboxing – than setting up future ones.
Kelsey Wickstrum, the aforementioned unknown, a 36-year-old novice from Redding, Calif., with two professional boxing bouts on her ledger, fell face first to the canvas when a heavy overhand right thudded off her forehead.
If there was something newsworthy about the most recent sacrifice at the altar of Cyborg-induced violence, it wasn’t another knockout landing like a wrecking ball.
For Cyborg and her team, including boxing trainer Jose Benavidez Sr., the father and coach of undefeated super middleweight David Benavidez, the most important elements about her finish at 1:21 of Round 1 were 1) the setup and 2) the message it sent to other female boxers.
Returning to the dressing room shortly after dispatching Wickstrum, the first thing Cyborg said was that she saw the end materialize prior to the execution. This is a fairly recent development for a woman whose berserker style, suited perfectly for MMA, had to be tempered for boxing.
“Before I only punched hard,” she said. “In MMA, it’s not the same. In boxing, there are so many rounds you have to stay active.”
Hit, react, hit. This was the basis for much of her success while winning titles in the UFC, Bellator, Strikeforce and Invicta.
“I always had heavy hands but I didn’t prepare the set-up,” she said. “So I’m starting to learn. The right hand I did today, I set up. I think this is more dangerous.”
For Benavidez’s part, Cyborg’s first knockout in boxing following a pair of decisions indicates that the work they’ve done together the past few months in Seattle is paying off and she’s ready for a world title fight in boxing if it presents itself.
“She can be a destroyer and also she can be more technical,” Benavidez said. “I think she’ll learn more with this fight. She’ll get super motivated. She’s going to get more confidence. I don’t remember when a woman got hurt like that. It was amazing. I think everyone is going to be talking about her because of the knockout.
“This was exactly what she needed.”
Boxing without a promoter, Cyborg was offered the bout at Pechanga when Bellator MMA, which had reserved the date at the venue, relinquished the site fee after being sold by Paramount Global to the Professional Fighters League in December.
What comes next will largely be determined by the PFL, which secured Cyborg’s contract as part of that transaction.
Juggling her three remaining MMA fights for PFL with aspirations of winning a boxing world title could prove challenging.
PFL hoped to book Cyborg for a pay-per-view card on ESPN+ from Saudi Arabia on Feb. 24, but that wasn’t feasible because of Saturday’s commitment among other considerations, according to the fighter’s fiancee, Ray Elbe.
Last year, Cyborg was close to booking a date against Ireland’s Katie Taylor, but that fell apart when the previously unbeaten boxer lost her various titles to Chantelle Cameron by decision.
Taylor could again be on a list of possible opponents after recapturing her titles. So, too, the larger Claressa Shields. (Cyborg’s team is pushing to meet the middleweight champion at 147 pounds and would consider a boxing-MMA series since Shields is also under contract to PFL.) Other potentials include Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships flyweight title holder Christine Ferea, who challenged Cyborg in the ring after watching from ringside Saturday.
“If the weight is right, if the money is right, I’m willing to do it,” Cyborg said. “I’m fighting for 19 years. I’m going to compete for 20. I want to finish with the biggest fight of my career and continue making history.”
