UFC Fight Night 95: What If Cris Cyborg Lost?

No one is anticipating Cris Cyborg will suffer an upset at the hands of Lina Lansberg this weekend at UFC Fight Night 95.

Actually, most people who've watched the Brazilian throughout her career aren't particularly prepared for the idea that she'll ever lose, period. She's among the most dominant mixed martial artists of her era, arguably the best woman to ever throw hands in any combat sport and finally getting the credit she deserves by headlining an event for the biggest fight promotion on Earth.

But there's an ignorance to focusing on only those things, a blind spot created by obsessing over the positives that doesn't do justice to the stakes of Cyborg as a UFC phenomenon. In case you forgot, MMA is as volatile and unpredictable as any sport in the world; zigging when one should zag might put a fighter on the wrong side of a four-ounce glove and erase a legacy in one fell swoop.

So what would it mean if that happened Saturday night, once all the drama of birth control pills and making 141 pounds was over and the most important threat—the fight—still had to go down? What would happen if Lansberg shocked the world and sent Cyborg reeling to the canvas?

"

These two human beings are going to fight in a cage. The government must act imo pic.twitter.com/ndENU1XAHL

— Jonathan Snowden (@JESnowden) September 22, 2016"

Well, it would be a historic upset. Lansberg is a +700 underdog (bet $100 to win $700), according to Odds Shark, an experienced muay thai fighter with a 6-1 MMA record who was brought in to showcase just how badly Cyborg can hurt a person in a fistfight. Nobody expects anything less than Lansberg receiving that hurt while Cyborg's hometown fans bloodthirstily howl for more, so if Lansberg caught the Brazilian and stopped her, it would be on a level with TJ Dillashaw beating Renan Barao or Matt Serra finishing GSP.

Beyond that, though, there are major implications past this random September Saturday for Cyborg. A loss now, when nobody is expecting it and everyone is planning her next move, would be insurmountable.

Cyborg has finally arrived in the UFC after years of being dismissed and discredited. She memorably demolished Leslie Smith earlier this year, and she's getting the attention she's long deserved. Furthermore, people seem to really like her. Her personality comes through in promotional material, and fans are seeing there's more to her than they may have thought.

She's proved she's a draw, both in the attention she garnered leading up to that Smith fight and the ovations she received in the festivities surrounding it—and is doing so again as a headliner in her homeland over other established stars like Barao and Bigfoot Silva. She's gone from being one of Dana White's favorite pariahs to one of the fighters he trusts to prop up an event in a market that's been hit-or-miss for a while now.

She's gotten herself back into the conversation for a fight with Ronda Rousey—a battle that's gone on outside the cage for years now and would provide the largest payday of her career by far. She's a brutal matchup for Rousey given her ruthless striking, raw power and size advantage. If she got that bout and won it, Cyborg might well become the most famous female fighter alive.

And if she lost Saturday night? It would all be gone.

Again, no one is expecting that. To summarily dismiss it, however, would be a dangerous exercise, as the proverbial MMA gods have proved time and again. Every time fans and pundits take an outcome for granted or identify a combatant as unbeatable, someone comes along and proves otherwise—often out of nowhere, which is exactly where Lansberg is coming from.

The smart money is on Cyborg sending her back in that direction when they meet. Given the stakes and volatility when the cage door is locked, though, it's unwise to act like that's the only conceivable conclusion.

Follow me on Twitter @matthewjryder.