'Cyborg' calls out Holly Holm for UFC 219 title fight in Las Vegas

Shortly after winning the UFC women’s featherweight championship, Cris “Cyborg” Justino set her sights on the first opponent to challenge for her title. Now that she has a name, she also has a date to coincide with that opponent.

Cyborg became the champion at UFC 214 when she stopped Tonya Evinger in the third round to claim the title that Germaine de Randamie vacated when she refused to face Cyborg. Cyborg dominated Evinger and in her post-fight interview called out Holly Holm.

Holm lost a closely contested decision to de Randamie for the inaugural UFC women’s featherweight title at UFC 208 in February. Holm has since gone back down to bantamweight and scored a scintillating third-round knockout of Bethe Correia in June to put an end to a three-fight losing streak.

With there being few women interested in challenging Cyborg, a Holm fight appears to make the most sense. Cyborg took to Instagram on Tuesday to call out Holm with a date in mind: UFC 219 at the T-Mobile Arena on Dec. 30 in Las Vegas, Nev.

Cyborg has proven to be the most destructive force in women’s MMA as the 32-year-old hasn’t lost a fight since her debut in 2005. The last time a fight of hers has gone to the scorecards was in 2008 when she defeated Yoko Takahashi by decision.

As for Holm, things haven’t been the same since knocking out Ronda Rousey to claim the UFC women’s bantamweight title in 2015. Since then, she suffered three straight defeats but bounced back with her knockout of Correia.