Bellator 271: Sinead Kavanagh says Cris Cyborg is trying to 'break her' with 'horrible' mind games

Sinead Kavanagh has described Cris Cyborg's "mind games" as "horrible" as they prepare for their featherweight title fight at Bellator 271 on Friday.

"She's over here playing mind games. You wouldn't even believe what they're up to," Kavanagh said.

Squid Game is one of 2021's most watched TV shows.

Fictional characters in the show compete in games in a bid to be the last player left alive to take home the cash prize.

In the show, organisers leave distinctive cards with potential players, inviting them to risk their lives to play. Kavanagh says Cyborg has been leaving her own version of the cards around the fighters' hotel in a bid to intimidate her.

"They're tagging me in that suplex video, she's out running in her sweat gear at two o'clock in the afternoon, blistering heat and they're out running.

"Me and my missus were out walking past and they're videoing it. She has these cards, these Squid Game cards with her face on them.

"She's leaving them everywhere I go. Leaving them on my corner. Leaving them on my floor. She's trying to play mind games, trying to break me, but she can't. That's what she does to her opponents."

She added: "I just use it as fuel. They're sitting beside me and laughing at me. Doing all these horrible things. It's fuel for me."

'I respect her'

While Kavanagh (7-4) has hit out at her opponent, Cyborg denied trying to get under the Irishwoman's skin.

The 36-year-old Brazilian suggested the cards were for her fans and it was her team who had control over her social media during camps.

"It's my team giving away the cards for my fans. Sinead, I respect her, I respect her as a fighter and I'm very excited to fight her," she said.

"I stay out of social media in camps. I let my team focus on this. I focus on my fight and my training."

'She knows I can beat her'

Kavanagh, 35, is the underdog heading into the title fight and is the first female fighter from Ireland to contest a major MMA world title.

Cyborg (24-2) confirmed she snubbed the idea of defending her title at last week's Dublin card where Peter Queally was unsuccessful in his bid to become lightweight world champion against Patricky 'Pitbull' Freire.

• How to watch Bellator 271 on BBC iPlayer
• From living in her car to title challenger - meet Sinead Kavanagh

Cyborg is undefeated under the Bellator banner and has three finishes in her last three bouts. Speaking to BBC Sport before she travelled to the US, Kavanagh revealed the mind games began long before she left for fight week.

"She was calling out other people, new people coming in," Kavanagh said.

"She has me blocked off everything. She was saying I wasn't good enough to fight her, needed to keep going. But the rest of them she was OK to fight?

"She's only saying that because she knows I'm the one who can beat her. She's playing mind games.

"She puts that out to get it into people's heads that I'm not good enough, even though I'm next in line."

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