Earlier this week it was announced that Invicta FC champion Cris Cyborg would be making her long awaited UFC debut against Leslie Smith in Curitiba Brazil at UFC 198 on May 14th.

Ahead of the fight, Cyborg believes that it was Conor McGregor who deserves the credit for getting her into the UFC. She elaborated in an interview with Fox Sports:

“I think [Conor] McGregor opened the door for this. He’s fighting at different weights. I think he opened the door to make this fight happen. There you go. I’m really happy for the opportunity and I’ll do my best in Curitiba and of course I’ll try for the KO and I’ll do my best. I think when you clean your division and you don’t have any more opponents or you want challenges, it’s okay to go up or you can try to go down. All the fighters go up, but now I have to go down. If you can go up or go down to make a big challenge for the fans, it’s good for everyone. I think McGregor opened the door for this fight. He [sold] a lot of pay-per-views and it opened the opportunity. I think the UFC sees the great opportunity and it’s a great time.”

Despite having a fight with Leslie Smith coming up at UFC 198, Cyborg already has revealed her desire to fight Ronda Rousey after that.