PHOTO | Cris Cyborg strips down for new photo shoot

Former UFC featherweight champ Cris Cyborg recently stripped down for a photo shoot with Larissa Reis.

See the first photo from this shoot below:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5BJIaWlj2M/

Cyborg recently parted ways with the UFC and signed with Bellator MMA. She’ll make her debut for the promotion when she takes on reigning featherweight champion Julia Budd on January 20 in Inglewood, California.

Cyborg last fought this summer, when she defeated Felicia Spencer by decision in a bout that would go down as her last with the UFC. In her next most recent fight, which went down in December of 2018, she was knocked out by Amanda Nunes in a shocking upset. This loss signalled the end of her iron-fisted reign as UFC featherweight champion, and made Nunes a two-division champ in the UFC.

Cyborg campaigned ceaselessly for a rematch with Nunes, but could not come to an agreement with the UFC, and ultimately left the promotion when her contract expired.

From the sounds of it, she is excited for her future with Bellator — especially given how her time in the UFC ended.

“My fans were ready for something new,” Cyborg told MMA Fighting recently. “The constant struggle with my previous promoter was draining and made it difficult for both sides to really promote one another. It’s hard to get behind a promoter when they are saying you are afraid to take fights and then forcing you to sit for almost an entire year because they haven’t built a division for you to compete in.

“I had nine fights for Zuffa and four years later there isn’t even a ranking for the featherweight division, that’s why after proclaiming she was going to defend the featherweight title next, [Amanda] Nunes is going back to bantamweight instead, because the promotion doesn’t have anyone for her to fight at 145 [pounds].”

Do you think Cris Cyborg will win gold in Bellator? What do you think of her stripped-down photoshoot?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 11/19/2019.