Cris Cyborg will defend her featherweight title for the primary time in over two years when she faces Sara Collins at PFL Lyon on 13 December.
Cyborg, 40, final defended her belt when she stopped Cat Zingano at Bellator 300 in October 2023, shortly earlier than the promotion was acquired by the PFL.
Since then the Bellator model has been phased out, that means the Brazilian’s belt shall be re-branded because the PFL ladies’s featherweight championship for the bout with America’s Collins.
Cyborg defeated fellow Brazilian Larissa Pacheco just below a 12 months in the past, however the bout was not for an official title.
Cyborg, who’s extensively considered probably the greatest ladies’s fighters in MMA historical past, heads into the combat with Collins having received 31 and misplaced solely two fights.
She has not suffered defeat since shedding to Amanda Nunes within the UFC in 2018, and defended her Bellator title 5 occasions earlier than it was re-branded.
Collins, 35, enters the competition having received the primary six fights of her profession, along with her final win coming in opposition to Leah McCourt in September.
The bout takes place on the LDLC Enviornment within the metropolis in jap France on a card headlined by a heavyweight title combat between Russia’s Vadim Nemkov and Brazil’s Renan Ferreria.
The bout is for the PFL heavyweight world title, which can be re-branded, with the organisation describing it as “the following chapter in heavyweight MMA”.
American Ryan Bader was the final Bellator heavyweight champion earlier than the model was phased out, however he parted methods with the PFL earlier this 12 months.
