Sinéad Kavanagh says she’s the first opponent champion Cris Cyborg has ever invited to her room for a drink after doing battle in the Octagon.
Cyborg beat Kavanagh by KO in their world title fight in Florida in November after landing a devastating punch on the Inchicore striker.
Kavanagh, who is coached by her namesake and Conor McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh, had the Brazilian in trouble early on with some troublesome shots of her own.
Unlike the majority of fighters who face Cyborg, generally regarded as the greatest pound-for-pound fighter of all time, Kavanagh took the champion on from the first bell.
It proved to be the wrong strategy, as Kavanagh explained to Dublin Live, but Cyborg was impressed by the Dublin 8 woman’s willingness to put it up to her.
The pair had drinks in Cyborg’s room after the fight on invitation from the Brazilian, something she’s never done before.
“She's never done that in the whole of her fighting career, asking anybody back to come to her room,” Kavanagh tells Dublin Live.
“She has a lot of respect for me that I went in to fight her and she said she just lauded me for that.”
Kavanagh went into the fight at Bellator 271 with the intent of knocking her opponent out and was stunned by the power of Cyborg, who’s best known for her jiu-jitsu game.
One punch flush on the chin was all it took for Cyborg to get her opponent on the ground and pound her into submission.
And 36-year-old Kavanagh, a five-time amateur boxing champion, is proud of her performance but convinced she can make amends when, not if, they meet again.
She says: “There's nothing to be a-fuckin-ashamed of. She's first in the world. I went out to win. I went for her at the start and I had her wobbled.
“I turned her on the cage with a nice hook. But she had me as well. She broke my eye socket and that's why I went down.
“But the whole experience was great. It just shows you what you're capable of for getting in there and the mindset. I wasn't afraid.
“Not like the other girls who went in to survive - I went in to win. It was totally different. The mindset was great.
“Afterwards I was drinking with Cyborg up in the room and all, laughing and joking, and it was surreal. She's a beautiful person - I actually really enjoyed her company.
“She's very real. She said she didn't want to fight me. I'm the dangerous one in that division, you know? She thought I could beat her.”
Kavanagh faces fellow Irishwoman Leah McCourt, the Belfast wrestler, at Bellator 275 at the 3Arena on Friday night.
She and McCourt are ranked fourth and fifth respectively in the featherweight division and the winner looks likely to be next in line to challenge Cyborg for her undisputed crown.
