10 MMA Champions Who Held World Titles Elsewhere
6. Cris Cyborg (IBJJF World Jiu-Jitsu Championship Female Purple Belt Gold Medalist)
When your ring name literally suggests you are half machine, a certain amount of precision and routine dismantling is to be expected.
Holding world championships across a record three major Mixed Martial Arts promotions, Cris Cyborg ranks as a Black belt in Muay Thai and a Brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. So, her status as one of the toughest women ever to strap on the fingerless gloves is unquestionably solidified.
Before all this, Cyborg found herself playing handball at a national-level for Brazil.
It was only after this that Rudimar Fedrigo, of Chute Boxe Academy fame, pulled her into the Kickboxing/Muay Thai world and allowed her to expand her repertoire with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, too.
She took to the disciplines like she'd been doing them her entire life and quickly made a name for herself in Strikeforce by dominating her division.
It was amidst this initial dominance that the former UFC Featherweight Champion, decided to test herself on the world stage at the IBJJF World Jiu-Jitsu Championships. She would take the gold at Purple belt in both 2011 and 2012.
Though her recent contractual issues, and bitter end to her relationship with the UFC, have threatened to take the shine off an already outstanding career, Cyborg now looks set to obliterate all competition in Bellator for the foreseeable future.
You never know, when she gets bored of that, we could see the hotly anticipated Amanda Nunes rematch... one day.