Amanda Nunes Explains Why She Doesn’t Want To Fight Cyborg
Reigning UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes is gearing up to defend her 135-pound title in a rematch with top contender Valentina Shevchenko at July 8’s UFC 213 from Las Vegas, Nevada, although the “Lioness” has expressed interest in moving up to 145 pounds in order to pursue her goal of becoming a two-weight world champion.
In fact, Nunes recently revealed that if the UFC had offered her a bout with featherweight champion Germaine de Randamie she would’ve accepted it:
“I’m interested in fighting the girl who has the belt now, de Randamie,” Nunes told MMAFighting.com. “Because I’d rather beat her. If UFC wanted to give me the opportunity to go up now, yes I would have taken it. Later is another thing.”
De Randamie won the inaugural 145-pound strap last February with a somewhat controversial decision victory over Holly Holm. Many, however, consider Cris Cyborg to be the best 145 pounder in the world and fight fans are hoping to see her challenge GDR for the title later this year, although there have been rumors indicating that de Randamie is dealing with personal issues.
While Nunes would like to see Cyborg crowned as the UFC champion, she admits that she isn’t interested in fighting her right now because there are a lot of changes she would need to make in her training camp to take on a larger opponent like the Brazilian slugger:
“I want to see Cyborg with this belt,” Nunes said. “I’m not interested in fighting her. I’m not interested in fighting her. I’m interested in fighting the girl who has the belt now. After my next fight, we’ll see what happened.
“I’d have to do a lot of things to fight Cyborg. Cyborg is way heavier, way bigger than me. I’d have to change all my training style to fight Cyborg. This is another thing I’d have to go over with my coaches.”
Cyborg has competed twice in the UFC thus far, scoring back-to-back stoppage victories over Leslie Smith and Lina Lansberg in 140-pound catchweight bouts. She has expressed interest in competing at UFC 214 this July.
Would you like to see Nunes and Cyborg square off at some point?
