Bellator world champion Cris Cyborg has revealed her desire to fight Irish superstar boxer Katie Taylor in an MMA-boxing crossover bout.

The 35 year-old is preparing to defend her featherweight world title in the cage against Arlene Blencowe on Thursday night in what will be her 26th professional MMA contest.

And while Cyborg has established herself as one of the biggest names in MMA, she admits she also has the desire to test herself in a boxing ring.

"I like to have challenges. And I really want a boxing fight," she told Sky Sports.

"I really like boxing. I've tried wrestling, I've tried jiu jitsu, I've tried Muay Thai. Always when you compete in a separate sport like this, you learn a lot.

"I love challenges. I've got Arlene Blencowe next in MMA, but if we can do the [Taylor] fight, it will be amazing.

"Before I was doing lot of boxing sparring. I was sparring pro boxer Raquel Miller (10-0). I was thinking I was going to do boxing and then we were told it was MMA, so we went back to working on that."

Undisputed lightweight champion Taylor won gold at the London 2012 Olympic Games as an amateur and is now 16-0 as a professional.

The 34 year-old is set to defend her world titles against mandatory challenger Miriam Gutierrez on November 14.

But after that Taylor’s promoter Eddie Hearn has declared his interest in doing the fight with Cyborg.

Replying to Cyborg’s proposal on Twitter, he said: "Let’s do it."