The best and worst from UFC 222

#2 Worst: Who’s next for Cyborg?

The UFC has not built opponents for Cris Cyborg correctly

While it was nice to see a first-round finish in the main event of a UFC PPV for once – it was the first one since May 2017’s UFC 211 where Stipe Miocic stopped Junior Dos Santos – Cris Cyborg’s latest squash match win again threw up more questions than answers, and despite giving up a takedown, those questions aren’t about her stellar fighting ability.

Does the UFC really want to create a Women’s Featherweight division to build around the champion Cyborg? Or are they simply happy throwing her in with overmatched foes like Yana Kunitskaya last night? Cyborg has proved that she can draw eyeballs – her win over Holly Holm was one of the better-selling PPVs of 2017 – but how can she really become a top draw without facing opponents that the UFC has built up?

The current discussion is around a possible superfight between Cyborg and Bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes, but to me that doesn’t make sense – why sacrifice one of your champions in a fight that probably won’t draw any better than a regular Cyborg title defence would?

For me, it’s time for the UFC to stop putting together odd fights for Cyborg and get behind the Women’s Featherweight division, no matter how thin it is. Even bringing in Invicta champion Megan Anderson and building her for a fight with Cyborg by showcasing her against a couple of handpicked opponents would be a nice start. As it is, this whole run from Cyborg feels more weird than impressive.