'Cyborg' Santos happy for second chance ahead of Invicta FC 6 fight with Coenen

Cristiane Santos knows a thing or two about second chances.

She’s in the middle of one right now, and she hopes it culminates with another world title.

Santos (11-1) on Saturday meets Marloes Coenen (21-5) in a rematch at Invicta FC 6 – and Invicta’s featherweight title will be on the line. It will be just the second fight for “Cyborg” since returning to action after a 16-month layoff that included a suspension following a positive steroids test that led to her being stripped of her Strikeforce title.

But with Invicta, where she won her first fight back from the layoff with a first-round TKO of Fiona Muxlow in April, “Cyborg” feels rejuvenated – and happy for another opportunity.

Invicta FC 6 takes place Saturday at Ameristar Casino Hotel in Kansas City, Mo. The event airs on pay-per-view in North America, and international viewers can watch via an online pay-per-view stream, each for $14.95.

“I am very glad to be in Invicta and to be able to fight for a belt again,” Santos told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “We make mistakes in life, but there are also second chances.”

To learn a little more about those second chances, “Cyborg” has been working with the Instituto Formando Campeoes, a group in Brazil that helps keep kids off the street by keeping them in the gym.

With 1,500 kids involved already, and 600 on a waiting list, Santos said, it’s easy to see how the institute is making a difference for them. But it’s also been having an effect on “Cyborg.”

“We have study and attendance rules for them, and that is changing my life, too,” she said. “I spent some time with the children in Rio. We normally think we have problems in our daily life, but when we meet those kids, we see that their problems are much bigger than ours.”

Santos said she hopes her attitude toward second chances rubs off on the kids she sees in the program.

“I’m not only fighting this fight for myself and my team, I am also representing the children,” she said. “I am their godmother. I want to be an example for them. I have dealt with my own difficulties for a year. But I didn’t complain. I accepted my errors. And I want to show that it’s possible to overcome life’s problems. One has to have faith.”

Santos and Coenen first fought three and a half years ago when Coenen challenged for Santos for the Strikeforce featherweight title. It was the first fight for “Cyborg” after taking the title from Gina Carano. Coenen took her into the third round before Santos stopped her with punches.

This time around, Santos said everything might as well have changed.

“Since we both changed our employer from Strikeforce, and we’re now fighting in Invicta, we both have been winning and now we get to fight for a belt,” Santos said. “Now our paths have crossed again. I believe that in every fight, win or lose, you learn something new. And with every fight, you are no longer the same person, since we continually improve every day. If someone were to train only before a fight, there would be no improvements at all. Because she has stayed active, for sure she has improved. I feel we’ve both evolved.”

Regardless of the outcome, Santos said she is glad to be part of a promotion that will keep her active. She turned 28 earlier this week, so she may have some time left in the sport. But that doesn’t mean she wants to sit back and wait the way she often had to do in Strikeforce – or while she was out with the suspension and a contract negotiation.

And while the potential to be in the UFC one day is there, should that promotion add a 145-pound division to go with its 135-pound class, Santos just wants to stay busy right now.

“The focus now is Invicta,” she said. “I’m very happy. I have this fight. I’ll have another one after that. Then we’ll see what happens. But our focus is to capture the belt, God willing, and to have one more fight in Invicta. I am very happy with them. Now I am able to fight every three months. I don’t wish to wait a year between every fight, like in the old days. Now Invicta can book me every three months. That really motivates me.”

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