There hasn’t been much development on Cris Cyborg’s future with Bellator, but the promotion’s president Scott Cocker has provided some updates.

While Cyborg remains the Bellator Women’s Featherweight Champion, the revered “Grand Slam Champion” of MMA has been out of action for a year now, since defeating Arlene Blencowe at Bellator 279 in Hololulu last year in April.

In recent times, the number one ranked Bellator Women’s Featherweight contender Cat Zingano expressed her doubt over whether Cyborg remains with the promotion or not, as well as expressed anguish over a potential Fight.

“She’s not even with the promotion, so I don’t know how you duck someone,” said Zingano during a recent interview. “She tells me to sign a contract, but she has two contracts to sign to even get back in the promotion. I feel like she’s kind of a crazy lady yelling from the street corner right now, just trying to get anyone to talk to her, anyone to pay attention to her. She’s always complaining. She’s always got something negative to say.”

We could work on a big fight for the two of them to fight for Cris’ belt: Scott Cocker on Cris Cyborg vs. Cat Zingano 

However, it’s Scott Cocker himself who has cleared the air regarding Cyborg’s future with the promotion. During the Bellator 293 post-fight press conference, the prez revealed that the Brazilian-American is expected to return to action in 2023.

“I’m not sure what Cat heard because I didn’t talk to her directly, but I can tell you this: From the company standpoint, this was always a three-round elimination fight for the No. 1 contender spot. Cyborg is still the current champion. We still have her under contract right now. We have her under a rights provision. We are negotiating with her, and we expect to bring her back here at some point this year,” said Cocker.

Cyborg vs Zingano remains one of the most anticipated fights in MMA, and Cocker suggests that the meet between them will be worked on, for Cyborg’s Featherweight belt.

To me, that now is going to be a great fight. Hopefully we’ll put this together with Cris in the next couple weeks, and her and Cat, we could work on a big fight for the two of them to fight for Cris’ belt. I don’t know where this got lost, but, from our perspective, it’s always been a three-round elimination fight.” [H/T BJPenn.com]

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