Bellator targets Cris Cyborg vs. Cat Zingano title fight next

Bellator president Scott Coker has a pretty good idea who will be fighting in his next women’s featherweight championship bout.

Former UFC title challenger Cat Zingano appears to be on deck for dominant Bellator champ Cris Cyborg, who Coker is looking to get back in the cage sometime in the first few months of this year.

Zingano (12-4 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) has picked up back-to-back wins since joining the Bellator roster in late 2020, but hasn’t competed since April. There aren’t many marquee opponents left to challenge Cyborg (25-2 MMA, 4-0 BMMA), however, and Coker is likely to oblige to Zingano’s request for a title shot.

“Cat has reached out and wants to fight Cyborg, so I think our inclination is to put that fight together,” Coker told MMA Junkie in a recent interview. “We’re going to have multiple fights in February and multiple fights in March and multiple fights in April and multiple fights in May. We’re going to start lining these big fights up and start knocking them off.”

Zingano, 39, holds notable wins over Amanda Nunes, Miesha Tate, and Raquel Pennington. Those came several years ago at this point, and although “Alpha” had some difficult years with injuries, losses, and inactivity, she finds herself back on a high with three wins in her past four.

The best version of Zingano will be required to get past Cyborg, 35, because the Brazilian has been nothing short of a wrecking ball since joining Bellator in January 2020. Cyborg has lost just once in the past 15 years, which came to Nunes under the UFC banner, and has already recorded three defenses of her Bellator title.

Coker said details for Cyborg vs. Zingano have to be finalized, but that’s the matchup the promotion prefers for this year.