Bellator 294’s McMann Eyes Cyborg Title Fight

Sara McMann’s Bellator MMA career kicks off TONIGHT (Fri., April 21, 2023) when she battles Arlene Blencowe at Bellator 294 in Honolulu, Hawaii. The former Olympic wrestling silver medalist signed a deal with the promotion in late 2022, nine months after her last fight under the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) banner, which was a win over Karol Rosa.

McMann won’t get an easy fight for her first challenge with her new promotion because Blencowe is ranked No. 2 in the women’s Featherweight division and is coming off a tough loss to division queenpin, Cris Cyborg. While McMann is adamant all of her focus is on Blencowe, she can’t help but to talk about her ultimate goals, which is to become champion by taking out the aforementioned Cyborg.

“I stay pretty narrowly focused because I don’t like to put the cart before the horse, so all of my concentration has really been on Arlene, but truthfully, I think that I would love to get it from Cris (Cyborg),” McMann revealed during a recent media day (via MMA Junkie).

“I just feel like if you’re gonna fight, and you want to do this, and you want to be a champion, such a long-standing champion, like it’s a little more special overcoming the toughest people. So for me, that’s what I would want in my heart, but I haven’t put a lot of thought into it.”

Cyborg currently isn’t under contract with Bellator since she became a free agent following her second victory over Blencowe. Nevertheless, Scott Coker and Co. are adamant a deal will get down in the near future.

As far as the title picture, Cat Zingano seemingly punched her ticket to the next championship fight after defeating Leah McCourt in a classic back-and-forth scrap at Bellator 293. With an impressive showing in her debut, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that McMann gets the winner of Cyborg vs. Zingano.

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