Cris Cyborg to defend PFL featherweight title in farewell fight against Ketlen Vieira on Aug. 22

Cris Cyborg will fight for the last time on Aug. 22, defending her PFL featherweight title against Ketlen Vieira in the main event of PFL Tampa at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Florida.

The promotion confirmed the bout on Wednesday. Cyborg, 40, enters on a nine-fight winning streak stretching back to the end of her UFC tenure in July 2019. She most recently submitted Sara Collins in the third round at PFL Lyon this past December.

Over a career spanning multiple promotions, Cyborg has collected titles in the PFL, UFC, Bellator MMA, Invicta Fighting Championships, and Strikeforce — a collection of championship gold that few fighters in any weight class can match. She has also stayed active outside the cage, logging seven boxing bouts since 2022.

“PFL Tampa will be a special event as it hosts the retirement fight for our champion, Cris Cyborg,” said PFL CEO John Martin. “She is a pioneer of not just women’s MMA, but mixed martial arts as a whole, and it has been a privilege for PFL to have her as a deserving champion. Now she headlines one final time in the PFL cage and will stand across from a proven challenger in Ketlen Vieira, who has one mission: ruin the goodbye and take the title.”

Vieira arrives as a credible threat to that farewell script. The Brazilian went 10-5 inside the UFC Octagon before being released earlier this year, and her résumé includes victories over Holly Holm, Miesha Tate, Macy Chiasson, Cat Zingano, and Sara McMann. She last competed at UFC Fight Night 276, where she ended Jacqueline Cavalcanti’s eight-fight winning streak.

The matchup pits a legend seeking a storybook ending against a former UFC veteran with every incentive to spoil it — and the featherweight title on the line for both.