In her long-awaited return to the cage on Friday, Cris Cyborg (far) pummeled Fiona Muxlow (near) at Invicta FC 5. Photo credit: Esther Lin/Invicta FC

By Michael Hatamoto

Cris Cyborg won her Invicta Fighting Championships debut against Fiona Muxlow on Saturday night, picking up a dominant TKO win at 3:46 of the first round.

Let’s be completely honest here:  Muxlow was a replacement fighter and had just 17 days to prepare for a Brazilian wrecking machine – and Cyborg was able to drop Muxlow with the first punch, and then proceeded to completely dominate the rest of the fight.

The victory opens the door to a potential rematch between Cyborg and Marloes Coenen, a fight that Cyborg won to defend her Strikeforce featherweight champion in 2010, and would determine the inaugural Invicta featherweight champion.

If a rematch takes place in the future, Coenen needs to work to ensure she’s on top, as Cyborg was too strong for her when the Brazilian striker was on top.  If Coenen is unable to get the fight down to the ground, I see very little chance that she will survive to a decision, as Cyborg is just too big and strong on the feet for anyone in women’s MMA today.

Cyborg should be able to win the rematch with Coenen, giving her one more championship title – and what happens beyond that remains to be seen, with the women’s 145-pound MMA ranks still relatively thin.

I think Cyborg’s – with Tito Ortiz’s guidance as her manager – departure from Zuffa was a ridiculous idea, though she can still find success outside of the UFC.  As long as she isn’t sidelined due to positive drug tests, I don’t think anyone has the physical force and in-cage skill to deal with Cyborg over a three-round or five-round championship fight.