When her current UFC contract expires, Cristiane Justino wants to try her hand at professional boxing.
“Cyborg” was in attendance at Saturday’s boxing match between Cecilia Braekhus and Kali Reis in Carson, Calif., and she addressed her future plans in a video interview posted by Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole. Breakhus has expressed an interested in facing the UFC featherweight queen in the ring down the road.
“Of course, I need time for training. I think I need four, six months training,” Justino said. “Gonna be maybe perfect because I have two fights left MMA and then I can focus on boxing. We can do my first boxing fight with her, but I need a little time to train.”
Justino last appeared at UFC 222, where she defended her featherweight belt with a first-round stoppage of Yana Kunitskaya in the evening’s main event on March 3. The 32-year-old Brazilian captured the vacant title with a win over Tonya Evinger at UFC 214 before making her first championship defense with a five-round verdict against Holly Holm at UFC 219 on Dec. 30.
The Chute Boxe product envisions herself potentially following in the footsteps of Conor McGregor, the former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion who crossed over to box Floyd Mayweather in a lucrative bout last August. With two fights left on her current UFC deal, Justino hopes to make an arrangement with the Las Vegas-based promotion that would allow her to compete in both arenas.
“I would like to work with them. If the UFC work it and I can do the boxing fight and still have the belt and come back like McGregor did,” Justino said.
On Saturday, bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes will square off against No. 1 contender Raquel Pennington in the UFC 224 headliner in Rio de Janeiro. Nunes has been linked to a superfight with “Cyborg,” but it remains unclear if the UFC will move in that direction should Nunes emerge with the belt.
“I really don’t know when they’re gonna make my next fight,” Justino said. “Let’s see Holly Holm against Megan Anderson (at UFC 225), and after let’s see too if Amanda is going to accept the fight or not. She just made 135, I don’t know if she’s gonna fight soon.”
Regardless of what her MMA future holds, Justino appears intent on dabbling in the Sweet Science in the near future. Justino has already taken one step in the right direction: she received her boxing license from the California State Athletic Commission last September.
“I think it’s a challenge for myself,” she said. “I competed in wrestling, in jiu-jitsu, in muay thai. I never do boxing. I want to do it before I end my career.”