Sara McMann sees a fight with Cris Cyborg on the horizon, but she wants to earn it.
After an almost 10-year UFC tenure, McMann (13-6) signed a multifight deal with Bellator and will compete in the featherweight division.
The 42-year-old Olympic silver medalist in wrestling is targeting a March return, but would like to get her feet wet before eyeing 145-pound champion Cyborg (26-2 MMA, 5-0 BMMA).
“I think I’d like to fight 145 once or twice before a title fight just to get my bearings and adjust to anything that might be a little bit different,” McMann told MMA Junkie. “I don’t think it’s going to be that different, but I don’t want my first fight to be – if there are any surprises, I would rather it not happen in a title fight. But also, it’s really important to me to show that I deserve and earn what I have, and so I don’t want to come in and just skip the line. I very much believe that I will beat the people in line, so it makes sense to me to build that fight.”
McMann suffered setbacks to UFC dual-champion Amanda Nunes and former bantamweight champs Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate and Julianna Peña. But if she can notch a win over Cyborg, she sees it as a big feather in her cap.
“If you beat her, you are the best…
