{"id":378846,"date":"2026-08-23T04:54:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T04:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/378846\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T04:54:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T04:54:14","slug":"pfl-tampa-results-cris-cyborg-defends-title-in-hard-fought-battle-sends-message-to-claressa-shields-kayla-harrison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/378846\/","title":{"rendered":"PFL Tampa results: Cris Cyborg defends title in hard-fought battle, sends message to Claressa Shields, Kayla Harrison"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cris Cyborg defended her PFL featherweight title against Ketlen Vieira\u2014who was ineligible to win the title due to missing weight by seven pounds<\/a>\u2014in the main event of PFL Tampa, which went down Saturday night in Florida, and appears to be far from done in combat sports.<\/p>\n

Early on, Cyborg attacked Vieira with jabs to the body, but had a hard time finding the distance to even secure a takedown against her heavier opponent. Cyborg hurt Vieira with a calf kick in Round 2, but the Nova Uni\u00e3o fighter fired back to rock her late in the round.<\/p>\n

Cyborg entered Round 3 focused on takedowns, scoring points with heavy ground-and-pound while Vieira tried to close guard and threaten with armbars. Vieira\u2019s success on the feet made Cyborg once again clinch and go for takedowns, but Vieira countered a takedown with a judo throw to leave Cyborg bloodied with ground-and-pound of her own.<\/p>\n

The final stanza began and Cyborg scored a takedown early, but Vieira quickly got back to her feet and then took the champion down. Cyborg only managed to get back up with 90 seconds left on the clock, and from that point on they traded blows until the final horn sounded.<\/p>\n

Cyborg and Vieira combined for 308 strikes over five rounds of action at Benchmark International Arena, and all three judges scored it for Cyborg (49-46, 48-47, 49-46). The longtime veteran now enters free agency with a 30-2 record and a 10-fight win streak, and is now undefeated for nearly eight years.<\/p>\n

Post-fight, Cyborg called Vieira \u201ca big test\u201d and said she\u2019s \u201cready for anybody, anytime, any weight.\u201d The former UFC, Strikeforce, Bellator, and Invicta FC featherweight queen called out boxing great Claressa Shields and sent a message to UFC bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison after getting her hand raised in Tampa.<\/p>\n

First, Cyborg told Shields to \u201ceat less\u201d and make 160 pounds for a boxing clash, and then took a shot at Harrison, a former PFL champion who attended the event Saturday to cheer for her American Top Team teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cKayla Harrison is here? Come here,\u201d Cyborg said. \u201cKayla, you\u2019ve been running for so long. You ran from PFL from me, now you\u2019re coming to watch my fight? I\u2019m ready for you. I hope you heal your neck and you go challenge Amanda Nunes. I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the co-main event, PFL newcomer Tracy Reeder stepped in as a short-notice replacement against top lightweight contender Gadzhi Rabadanov, but he was no match for the former PFL tournament winner.<\/p>\n

Rabadanov kept the PFL debutant away with jabs on the feet until Reeder shot for a takedown from a mile away. Rabadanov easily ended up on top position, and from there he patiently used his ground-and-pound to hurt Reeder and secure the TKO late in the opening round.<\/p>\n

Also on the main card, multiple-time amateur MMA champion Sabrinna de Sousa scored the biggest win of her pro MMA career by topping one-time UFC flyweight title challenger Taila Santos via unanimous decision. Luke Trainer opened the main card with a nasty front kick knockout over Roland Dunlap.<\/p>\n

Watch Trainer\u2019s finish below, and click here for full PFL Tampa results<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cris Cyborg defended her PFL featherweight title against Ketlen Vieira\u2014who was ineligible to win the title due to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[8943,132453,132454,135,137,136],"class_list":["post-378846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-latest-news","tag-pfl","tag-pfl-news","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}