‘She’s trying to break me’: Bitcoin-loving MMA icon Cyborg uses Squid Game cards as taunts, claims challenger (VIDEO)

An MMA fighter who is challenging Cris Cyborg for her title on Friday has claimed people "won't even believe" the "mind games" the ex-UFC champ has been playing – and her opponent is accepting payments in bitcoin.

Bellator MMA veteran Sinead Kavanagh claims legendary fighter Cyborg has been running in blistering heat in boiler suits ahead of their scrap in Florida, when the former Irish national boxing champion will try to dethrone the feared featherweight champion.

The 35-year-old claims Cyborg has talked her credentials down because she did not want to face her, and insists she will not be affected by intimidation tatctics. 

"I've seen her and I ain't afraid," said Kavanagh ahead of their Bellator 271 showdown, revealing that Cyborg has been distributing depictions of herself reimagined in the blood-heavy Netflix hit 'Squid Game'.

"She's over here playing mind games; you won't even believe what they're up to. She has these Squid Game cards with her face on them and she's leaving them everywhere I go.

"She's trying to break me but she can't. That's what she does to her opponents."

Kavanagh, who has seven wins from 11 professional fights and has won her last two bouts, admits she has had a long road to securing a meeting with one of the best-known names in the female sport.

"It's been emotional, a rollercoaster for me – but I'm finally here and ready to get going," she said, adding that she will adopt a patient approach despite her punch power.

"She gets too much respect in the cage. The cage is not to be given respect in, it's [a place in which] to fight and leave my soul in there. That's exactly what I'm going to do. It's fuel for me.

"If you go out and try to knock someone out, you'll never knock them out. It's about timing and precision. If I start swinging and being reckless, that's how you make mistakes.

"She didn't want this fight. She did everything to stop this fight, saying I wasn't good enough. It's only weakness on her part, that's all I see. I can't wait to hit her."

Cyborg's only defeat in her last 26 fights came against revered two-weight champion Amanda Nunes in the UFC.

"My team give away the cards for my fans," explained the Brazilian, who is a year older than her opponent.

"I respect her as a fighter and am excited to fight her. The fighter has to try to punch my face: it's a fight game.

"I stay off social media during my camps. I know I have five rounds to finish the fight. I don't have any rush. I just have to find a way to finish [it], and that's it.

"She's a boxer who has heavy hands but I believe in mixed martial arts. I believe I have a lot of tools to finish this fight. Let's see how it's going to work."

One of Cyborg's more innovative ploys is a t-shirt with a code which people can scan to send her cryptocurrency.

After her fourth defense of her Bellator crown, she has said she will transfer half of her bitcoin earnings to another fighter, having studied the currency for three years.

"I didn't believe too much [in bitcoin at first]," she told a fight week film by the promotion.

"I'm learning every day. My fiance is crazy about this so I tell him: after 6pm every day, we don't talk about bitcoin."