Coach Expects Cris Cyborg To Dominate Holly Holm

Throughout her three-fight UFC tenure, Cris Cyborg has proven to be a star, as she’s drawn impressive numbers, but next weekend (Dec. 30, 2017, we’ll see just how big of a star she is, as she’s set to defend her featherweight title and headline UFC 219 and ex-bantamweight titleholder Holly Holm.

Her coach, Jason Parillo, believes she’s a ‘bigger draw than anybody even knows’:

“A lot of people know who Cris is,” Parillo told MMAjunkie. “She’s a big draw as it is, but she’s a bigger draw than anybody even knows, because we haven’t had her on this big promotion.”

As far as the fight itself goes, Cyborg certainly has a difficult test on her hands.

Although she’s just 1-3 in her last four fights, Holm is without question one of the best strikers amongst female fighters. She’s a world class boxer and kick boxer, and her decorated background in those sports has transferred over to the Octagon quite well.

She also is very mobile on the feet, which could give a fighter like Cyborg some problems.

Despite the skills of Holm, however, Parillo expects Cyborg to ‘dominate’, because in his opinion, she’s simply on ‘another level’:

“I believe (Cyborg) can go in there and dominate, and that’s what we expect,” Parillo said. “We also expect the worst. We’re training for how this fight can go any way.

“Cris is just on another level than these girls. I really, truly believe she is. I know Holly has all the experience in the world and is very smart and an intelligent fighter, and they’re going to go in there with a hell of a game plan, but Cris is a different animal.”

How do you expect the fight to play out?