In attendance at this weekend's Long Beach Fight Night 10 event was none other than the Strikeforce women's middleweight champion herself, Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos. Santos, who last fought in June, knocking out Jan Finney with a vicious knee to the body, established herself as the new face of women's MMA by stopping then-undefeated Gina Carano last year. After we had just finished watching a fight where one of the opponents was knocked out by an illegal blow to the back of the head, Cyborg gave us a moment of her time to catch us up on her future plans and what she's been up to.
RK: Cristiane, thank you for giving us at FightHype your time. Have you ever seen that [the illegal blow] before in all your years as a fighter?
CS: Yes, actually, in one of my husband's fights believe it or not.
RK: Is it tough staying in control and avoiding accidentally doing anything illegal mid-fight when the adrenaline is pumping and you've got so much else on your mind?
CS: Yes, it's tough. It's just one more thing you have to be aware of.
RK: Do shows like these take you back to when you started out your career?
CS: Oh yeah. I was doing events just like this.
RK: What did you think of Marloes Coenen's performance and the Strikeforce card last weekend?
CS: She had a very good fight; good technique, good footwork. I was impressed.
RK: Who are you going to fight next?
CS: I don't know yet, but it will be in January.
RK: Are there any names being kicked around that you know of?
CS: No. The promoters are working on that right now.
RK: How much longer do you plan to fight in your career?
CS: I don't know. I've been doing this for five years now. Before that, I was playing handball. I'd been playing that since I was nineteen. But this? I don't know how much longer.
RK: Is it hard finding quality opponents?
CS: Yeah. It's hard, but fortunately, Strikeforce is the one who has to deal with all that.
RK: Do you ever wish someone like Laila Ali would put on the 4 oz. gloves and take you on?
CS: Oh yeah, I love Laila Ali. She's great. I'd fight her, no problem.
RK: What if it was just in the boxing ring?
CS: I'd fight her in boxing or MMA; anything.
RK: Would you say that you're the best female MMA fighter out there?
CS: No, I wouldn't say that.
RK: Really? Who's better than you?
CS: (Laughing) I don't know. I just do my thing. I train hard and I eat right. I can't really be the judge of that.
RK: What kind of things do you like to do outside of the cage?
CS: I like to watch movies and run with my dog.
RK: Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez. Who wins?
CS: It has to be the big guy; Brock Lesnar by knockout.