UFC 198: Cris Cyborg is About to Set the World On Fire

In Southern California, we’re all waiting for “The Big One.” The San Andreas Fault is supposed to crack anytime, sending an 8.0 jolt throughout California.

The MMA equivalent is about to happen tonight at UFC 198 in Brazil. Yes, Cris Cyborg has finally arrived. After all these years and attempts to sign Cyborg to the UFC, it’s finally happened and the UFC and women’s MMA will never be the same.

Cyborg, not Ronda Rousey, is the female Mike Tyson. Think I am just believing the hype? Nope, I have been following Cyborg’s career since she was annihilating girls in Strikeforce, back in the old MMA on Showtime days.

Cyborg is about to get a lot of press and attention after her expected big KO victory over Leslie Smith tonight, but if you have been following her career you’d know that she is already made for primetime. And you’d know why Ronda Rousey was probably avoiding her all these years. Here’s a look at some of Cyborg’s pre-UFC highlights.

5. She Has Amazing Knockout Power

And she rearranges faces.

4. She Nearly Killed Jan Finney

If you ever want a reason to stop liking MMA and start watching ballet, watch this fight with Jan Finney. Cyborg thumped her like the Junkyard Dog power-slamming Greg “The Hammer” Valentine. And that Kim Winslow as referee. Wow.

3. She Was Popped For Steroids

In 2011, Cyborg was caught cheating, no, not by Joey Greco, but by California State Athletic Commission. She tested positive for anabolic steroids. Amateur nutritionists could look at her back then and suspect that she may have been on something. She was ripped and huge and just off-the-chart strong. She was stripped of her Strikeforce featherweight championship. The stripping and suspension cost her lots of money and prestige. But she ended up in the UFC anyway, post-Ronda Rousey era and she’s about to knock Leslie Smith’s block off.

2. Cyborg Posed Nude: Sort Of

Cyborg and her then-husband Evangelista Cyborg Santos posed together nude in ESPN’s The Body issue. So for those of you who like that kind of stuff, feel free to check it all out here.

1. Cyborg ended Gina Carano’s Career

Gina Carano was a pioneer in women’s MMA. She also looked really pretty so, of course, she was being marketed as “a crossover star” who would lift women’s MMA into the mainstream. Yeah, then she fought Cyborg. Cyborg  pummeled her like she was Mike Tyson taking on Marvis Frazier. At 4:59 of the first round the fight was stopped and we haven’t seen Gina Carano since (at least not in an MMA cage). Cyborg doesn’t care about the careers of the women she faces. That’s clear. And it’s about to get a lot clearer.

Follow Joshua Molina on Twitter: @JECMolina.