Cris Cyborg's Final Fight Announced

Cris Cyborg will fight for the last time on August 22 in Tampa — and she has chosen a worthy opponent to close the chapter.

PFL has confirmed that Cyborg will defend her featherweight title against Ketlen Vieira in the main event of PFL Tampa at the Benchmark International Arena, with the bout serving as the retirement fight for one of the most decorated fighters in the history of women's MMA. Cyborg is 29-2 with one no-contest across a career spanning nearly two decades. She will be 40 years old when she walks out in Tampa.

"PFL Tampa will be a special event as it hosts the retirement fight for our champion, Cris Cyborg. She is a pioneer of not just women's MMA, but mixed martial arts as a whole, and it has been a privilege for PFL to have her as a deserving champion. Now she headlines one final time in the PFL cage, and will stand across from a proven challenger in Ketlen Vieira, who has one mission: ruin the goodbye and take the title. This is the conclusion to the storied career of Cyborg, and I can't wait to be there cageside to witness her create MMA history for the last time," PFL CEO John Martin

Cyborg's final run has been everything a career conclusion should look like. Eight consecutive wins under the Bellator and PFL banners since her last UFC appearance in 2019, a featherweight title claimed last December by submitting Sara Collins, and a parallel boxing career that went 6-0 and produced a WIBA title victory over Paulina Cardona in March.

Vieira is the right opponent for the occasion. The Brazilian departed the UFC following a win over Jacqueline Cavalcanti in May, leaving with victories over Holly Holm, Miesha Tate, Cat Zingano, and Sara McMann on her record — a list that confirms she belongs at the highest level of women's MMA. Cyborg has earned the sendoff. Vieira has earned the right to try to deny it.