Cris Cyborg wasn’t happy to learn of UFC 232 switch through the media

By Tom Taylor - December 26, 2018

UFC featherweight champ Cris Cyborg, who will battle Amanda Nunes in the UFC 232 main event this Saturday, was as surprised as the rest of us when the promotion moved the entire card from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. She was also disappointed to learn the news through the media rather than from the UFC directly.

Cris Cyborg

“This is crazy,” Cyborg said in a video blog that was filmed shortly after this news broke (transcript via MMA Fighting). “They’re supposed to contact everybody. We’re partners. We’re partners. We can’t partner together … and they don’t contact you before. But I was in touch with my manager and he didn’t know, too. He was buying gifts for his family. Nobody knows. Just really don’t like. How can you call media and not call your fighters? For you to prepare yourself before and handle things before. How long do they know this?”

Cris Cyborg also sympathizes with the thousands of fans who bought tickets to watch UFC 232 in Las Vegas — not to mention the costs of flights and hotels. That being said, she admits she’s glad that she’ll now be able to fight in front of her legions of fans in California.

“I think for Cyborg Nation fans, it’s gonna be an amazing thing, really,” Cyborg said. “But I know a lot of Cyborg Nation fans already had a lot of tickets for Las Vegas. But for sure you’re gonna have a lot more Cyborg nation fans in California, because it’s the place I live. It’s gonna be I’m fighting in my house now. But I feel sad for the people who made plans. I hope they can make LA, too.”

“I trained for this fight nine months,” Cyborg said. “I want to fight. I just feel upset about my fans, the people who bought a ticket. And about family that’s gonna come. But my thoughts continue, I’m gonna fight Amanda. It doesn’t matter where, if you move the city. It’s just, this is really crazy because people bought a ticket, made plans for family in Las Vegas. But in my mind, I’m training, I’m ready, I was ready a long time ago for this fight. I really don’t want to change the date. But I’m sad about the people who cannot come and make it [to] LA.”

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 12/26/2018.


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