Issue 105
September 2013
The unknown fighters who left their mark on the records of MMA’s biggest stars
Erica Paes v Cris Cyborg
Showfight 2 ,17 May 2005
The day an unstoppable robot faced off against a professional singer and lost
Former pro singer Erica Paes had the MMA world singing her praises back in May of 2005 when she became the first, and only, woman to beat future Strikeforce featherweight champion Cris ‘Cyborg’ Santos. Both women were making their pro debuts at a packed-out arena in Parana, Brazil, when Paes submitted Santos with a double knee bar in just one minute and 46 seconds of round one.
Paes fought one more time following that soon-to-be famous victory (she was KO’d five months later by Dutch fighter Dina Van Den Hooven) before she decided to take six years off from the fight game to focus on her music career.
Santos on the other hand quickly recovered from the early setback and went on to score 11 straight wins, including three defenses of the Strikeforce title she won against Gina Carano in August 2009.
Disappointingly the 28-year-old tested positive for the steroid stanozolol following her last defense, against Hiroko Yamanaka, and was stripped of the belt and banned for 12 months in January 2012.
But she’s now well and truly on the comeback trail after notching up another win at Invicta FC 5 back in April; and there’s also talk of a superfight being made between her and UFC super starlet Ronda Rousey at a catchweight.
Strangely enough, Paes has also recently pulled the gloves back on, and after beating Gisel Maciel at the Gringo Super Fight 6 event in April she now has her sights set on a career in the Octagon.
Here Paes reminisces about the day she defeated the number-four ranked P4P female fighter in the world, who’s now thought to be so unstoppable she’s nicknamed Cyborg.
Tell us how you prepared for the fight with Cris Cyborg.
“I had just joined the Belfort Team at the time and had actually moved to Sao Paulo. Unfortunately, Vitor had some personal problems and the team was disbanded, so my coach told me to move back to Belem, which wasn’t the greatest preparation. I decided to go to Rio de Janeiro because I had a lot of friends there.
“While I was there I fought a Muay Thai fighter, which was great because I was an expert in jiu-jitsu and hadn’t specifically trained for MMA. And I think that the extra training was a good thing, even though I showed with my victory against Cristiane that I was a submission expert.”
What did you know about Cris before the fight?
“We’d been told that she was very good. A friend of mine told me that she was a two-time Muay Thai champion, and therefore a good striker. I’d also heard that she was very tough and regularly fought men, but I wasn’t worried about that because I was also doing that.”
Tell us about the fight itself.
“It was a very fast fight, which I wasn’t really used to. She was a very explosive athlete and she threw a lot of punches at me, but I just remembered that I’d not heard about her knocking a lot of people out, so her punches couldn’t be that heavy.
“She threw a lot of short punches, but I’d trained a lot to defend against that. She then jumped at me, but fell, and after the fall I turned my hip, hitched her legs. Mission accomplished: I won, thanks to God.”
Did either of you talk to the other before or after the fight?
“No, I didn’t even have half a word with Cris, but I do have a lot of respect for her. She has my gratitude for what she’s done to help female MMA. She has a great interest in the sport. There was a lot said at the time we fought about the fact she hadn’t greeted me, but I didn’t have any problems with that. We are professionals and I think us women have to unite. I know she had a doping problem, but I wish her luck in the future.”
Any thoughts on a rematch with Cris?
“I think nowadays a confrontation against her would be impossible, because she wasn’t signed by the UFC and so she went to Invicta FC. I am currently focusing on Ronda Rousey and the UFC. But I would love, and would definitely accept, a rematch against Cris; and I think I would win by submission again.”
How do you feel about having defeated the former Strikeforce champion?
For me it was a great honor, and even better for the way I won. And the memory of that win is one of the reasons I have returned to MMA. I have had a series of injuries and personal problems; I had knee surgery in 2009 and returned to Belem for nine months of physiotherapy before I, returned to training. I also had a serious injury in the spine, and went almost a year and a half without doing any training, just doing physical therapy
Do you tell people about this victory or only mention it when someone asks?
I am known as the woman who beat Cris Cyborg, and I feel very good about that, because she is the best in the division. But I don’t really talk about it because I now want to be the best at 61kg in the UFC, which is Ronda Rousey.
