Cyborg TKOs Smith late in lopsided Bellator title bout

Cris Cyborg made it look easy - again - in her rematch with Leslie Smith.

Cyborg defeated Smith via TKO at the 4:51 mark of the fifth round in the Bellator 259 main event Friday night at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. She retained the women's featherweight title for the second time with the victory.

The champion dropped Smith with a ferocious right hand with 31 seconds remaining in the fight. She followed up with vicious ground-and-pound until the referee waved off the contest.

After the fight, Cyborg expressed interest in a clash with former UFC title challenger Cat Zingano, who made her Bellator debut in 2020 and is 2-0 in the promotion.

The featherweight queen dominated Smith from start to finish, landing the harder strikes and staying busier in the stand-up department. She previously beat Smith in her UFC debut in 2016 via first-round TKO.

Cyborg also dropped Smith in the first round and rocked her in the second.

With the victory, Cyborg improved to 3-0 in Bellator and is now riding a four-fight winning streak. She joined the promotion in 2019 after a three-year stint in the UFC, under which she held the women's featherweight title from July 2017 to December 2018.

Smith, who's also a UFC veteran, is now 2-2 in Bellator. She entered her first Bellator title fight coming off a win over Amanda Bell in September.