Dana White‘s tenure as UFC president and CEO has seen him clash with plenty of fighters—some of them champions. One of the most notable examples was Cris Cyborg, whose relationship with White deteriorated badly toward the end of her UFC run in the late 2010s. Now, years after that fallout, the former champion is preparing for the final fight of her legendary combat career against an opponent the UFC released just last month.

According to PFL, the former UFC women’s featherweight champion will make her final walk at PFL Tampa at the Benchmark International Arena on August 22, against Ketlen Vieira, whom the UFC released in May, and whom the PFL signed a couple of days ago.

“The Legacy Tour continues as the PFL Women’s Featherweight World Champion Cris Cyborg returns to defend her title against newly signed Ketlen Vieira, who has eyes on shocking the world! Be there on Saturday, August 22nd!” PFL shared on X.

At 40 years old, many expected Cris Cyborg to retire years ago. With 32 MMA bouts and many more in other combat sports, she has fought more bouts than most other women’s MMA stars. Instead, the Brazilian has continued to fight, that is, until now. Given her dominant run, she could very well ride off into the sunset by defending her PFL featherweight belt. But regardless of the result, Cyborg’s legacy is already cemented in women’s MMA history.

Alongside Ronda Rousey, Holly Holm, and Miesha Tate, Cris Cyborg is recognized as one of the pioneers of women’s MMA. After the Brazilian conquered Strikeforce and Invicta FC, she eventually arrived in the UFC. Under Dana White’s banner, she defeated Tonya Evinger at UFC 214 to win the women’s featherweight championship and later defended the belt against Holly Holm (UFC 219) and Yana Santos (UFC 222). For Cyborg, everything went smoothly until one fight changed the entire course of her UFC tenure.

Cyborg faced Amanda Nunes at UFC 232 in 2018 and suffered a devastating first-round knockout. Following that defeat, she became embroiled in a deep feud with Dana White. The UFC president claimed Cyborg did not want a rematch with Nunes because she believed she would lose again. Well, Cyborg took offense to those comments and accused the promotion of trying to hurt her brand. After her final UFC appearance against Felicia Spencer at UFC 240 in 2019, White told Laura Sanko in an interview that the UFC would release Cyborg from her contract and that he no longer wanted to do business with her.

Following her UFC exit, Bellator signed the Brazilian star, where she once again became champion and defended it a record five times. Plus, Cyborg retained that status when Bellator eventually merged into the PFL. In fact, she has not suffered a defeat since Nunes beat her in 2018. Now it remains to be seen if she will continue with boxing after her retirement or if this will be it for her.

As Cris Cyborg prepares for retirement, another well-known UFC veteran has recently decided to walk away from the sport as well.

Former interim champion Colby Covington retires from the UFC

One of the most recognized welterweight stars in UFC history, Colby Covington raised major questions about his future after not competing since his loss to Joaquin Buckley in December 2024. Well, the former interim champion finally provided clarity last month, with multiple outlets confirming that ‘Chaos’ had officially retired.

Following the reports, Covington explained the reasoning behind his decision. Speaking to MMA Fighting, ‘Chaos’ revealed that he isn’t completely done with combat sports, as he still plans to compete in RAF. Covington admitted that part of his decision stemmed from his renewed focus on wrestling, the sport that first put him on the path to success.

“I’m not really retired, it’s just the red tape that I needed to open up all the matchups for Chad Bronstein and RAF,” Covington said. “I want to go against Arman, I want to test myself on this mat in the first sport that I started in. I started in wrestling. As a little kid, this is the sport that brought me into the UFC and gave me everything I had in the UFC. It’s wrestling. This is how I got an education. It got me a degree to go to college.”

However, even though Colby Covington announced that he is stepping away from the UFC, he still left the door slightly open for a return in the UFC.

“I wasn’t let go,” Covington added. “I’m still a UFC fighter. I’ll always be a UFC fighter. If I come back to fight again, it will be in the UFC. I’m still under contract with the UFC. All is still good with the UFC. I’m thankful for everything they did for me.”

With several high-profile fighters announcing retirements this year, it will be interesting to see how Cris Cyborg performs when she finally makes her last walk to the cage in Tampa.