Cathilee Deborah Zingano more popularly known as Cat Zingano, is a Mixed Martial Artist, She used to compete with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Cat was born on July 1,1982 in Winona, Minnesota, U.S. Cat is a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and has a Mixed Martial Arts record of 10W-4L. This article will tell you about Cat Zingano Signs With Bellator.
When Cat left the Ultimate Fighting Championship she was ranked at no 7 in the UFC bantamweight rankings. On April 13 of 2013 Cat became the first woman to win a fight by technical knockout.
In the latest MMA news Cat is coming back and now she won’t be competing in the Ultimate Fighting Championship but has now signed a deal with Bellator. Cat would be fighting in the featherweight division of Bellator.
Bellator MMA is one of the biggest American Mixed Martial Arts Promotion, Bellator is a subsidiary of Viacom and was founded back in 2008.
Many top fighters such as Michael Chandler, Paul Daley and Cris Cyborg are a part of the promotion.
Cat was released by the UFC, after she lost to Megan Anderson in just 61 seconds, Cat was not performing at the best level even before her loss to Anderson, Out of her last 5 fights she had just won the one fight and lost the remaining four.
Cat even appealed against his loss at UFC 232 against Megan, A kick from Anderson had hit Cat’s eye which was the reason for the fight being stopped. Although her appeal was turned down.
Cat had a great start to her UFC career, she went to win her first 9 fights before eventually being beaten by Ronda Rousey, Ronda made Cat submit in 14 seconds at UFC 184.
It is confirmed that Cat would be joining Bellator sooner rather than later, but as of now no opponent or date for her return has been announced.
After her loss to Ronda all started going downhill for cat, the once title challenger managed to win just one out of the four fights she was a part of after that.
ESPN first reported that Cat would be joining Bellator MMA, as Cat was released from the Ultimate Fighting Championship it was speculated that she would return to cage at some point.
Bellator has been signing some great fighters as of late including some former UFC champions and Cat would be a great addition to their roster.
Many from the MMA world reacted to Cat joining Bellator MMA, Frank Mir welcomed Cat to the promotion he posted Welcome@CatZingano, Leslie Smith congratulated both Bellator MMA and Cat Zingano for joining the promotion, She said welcome Cat Zingano to the best and deepest 145 division in the World, it is true that the 145 division at Bellator is great and many great fighters will compete for the title. John McCarthy and Scott Coker both also took to twitter to welcome and congratulate the former UFC fighter to Bellator MMA.
When Cat first joined the UFC, her UFC schedule first saw her competing against Miesha Tate, she was quick to make a mark as she defeated Tate on The Ultimate Fighter 17 finale in a fight that was judged as “Fight of the Night”. She also faught Amanda Nunes the present UFC bantamweight champion on UFC 178, Cat went on to win the fight and gain a title shot, She competed with Ronda and lost on just 14 seconds.
Although it was almost certain that Cat would be returning sooner rather than later, her decision to now compete in a higher weight class division came as a surprise. Cat joining the featherweight division might see her go against another ex UFC fighter in Cris Cyborg, Cris has also recently joined BEllator MMA and is set to fight against current Bellator champion Julia Budd.
The Bellator 145 division is filled with many great fighters and it would be interesting to see how “Alpha” competes with them, After her debut back in 2008, Cat competed against Karina Taylor at ring of fire 32, she won the fight via submission. Zingano was also set to compete in the Invicta fighting Championships but couldn’t because she suffered an injury. Cat was a competitor at Strikeforce and won a fight against Raquel Pennington.
After it was announced that Cat would be joining Bellator MMA, She talked to ESPN where she said “ they asked me what would motivate me and make a happy to compete at Bellator, and I told them, then they came back with an even bigger number,” Cat said that she was not so sure as to what decision to take, Her mind was fatigued and that she had to get back to the best physical shape in which she can compete at the top of her level.
Cat is all set to take on the new challenge and says that she still has a few things to achieve, she enjoyed her time the UFC but would love to achieve those things here in Bellator that she couldn’t do back in UFC.
This would almost be like a new star for Cat, even though she has been competing since 2008, She knows that she needs to reinvent, start over fresh and set new goals now.
Cat is happy at joining Bellator MMA , and would love to achieve many great things with the platform, it is a great opportunity for someone who thought she had retired.
The move would not only benefit Cat, but also would be a great addition to Bellator featherweight division, Cat is a great competitor and would add great value to their already packed 145 division. The only thing that we have as fans and Cat as a fighter will have to watch out for is her jump from the bantamweight to the featherweight division as an extra ten pounds can be a problem.
Zingano will join the promotion as one of the top fighters in the division and would certainly be in line to challenge for the featherweight title. Cat Zingano is really excited to be a part of Bellator MMA, and so are her fans who are waiting to watch her in action.