Yesterday afternoon, news surfaced that former UFC bantamweight title challenger Cat Zingano had been released from the UFC roster.

Shortly after this news surfaced, Zingano released a brief statement on her divorce with the UFC to ESPN. In her statement, the fan favorite admitted that the timing of this ordeal is unfortunate, but assured that we haven’t seen the last of her.

“I didn’t want to take the ultimatum this time,” Zingano said in her statement to ESPN (via MMA Mania). “So I guess you can say it was mutual. I had a project that was very, very important to me, and to the MMA community and fans, and I needed to put me, my son, my training and that first before I had anything to give to the UFC,” she added. Still, Cat made it clear that her fighting days are from from over.

“It’s shitty timing, but it happens, and I’m still a fighter and ready to fuck shit up.”

Cat Zingano parts ways with the UFC having not fought since December, when she was stopped by former Invicta champ Megan Anderson. This stoppage loss was quite controversial as it was caused by a toe to the eye. Zingano attempted to appeal this loss, but was not able to make much headway on this front.

Prior to that loss, Zingano picked up an impressive victory over Marion Reneau. This win, a unanimous decision, separated the former title challenger from consecutive losses Ketlen Vieira, Julianna Peña, and Ronda Rousey — the latter occurring in her lone bid for UFC gold.

Cat Zingano began her MMA career with an impressive 9-0 start, including impressive UFC triumphs over future UFC champions Miesha Tate and Amanda Nunes, both by stoppage, and a decision win over recent UFC bantamweight title challenger Raquel Pennington outside the Octagon.

At 37 years old, she’s currently a solid 10-4 overall. What do you think the future holds for her?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 8/14/2019.