UFC women’s featherweight champion is not making the UFC’s matchmaking job easy. After beating Holly Holm and UFC 219 she stated an interest in fighting Invicta FC Champion Megan Anderson on the Perth card in six weeks. Anderson was quick to turn down this rumour.
Dana White, however, believes the next challenger for the 145lb belt should be fellow UFC title holder, Amanda Nunes, the women’s bantamweight champion. “Amanda Nunes wants to fight Cyborg,” White said. “That is the fight to make, and that is the fight I will make. Amanda Nunes is a big, strong, powerful puncher. I think she matches up very well with Cyborg too, and I think that’s a fun fight, and that’s the fight to make.”
Cyborg went onto her website to share her feelings about the proposed champion vs champion fight.
“As a world champion it is important that you face the (No. 1) contender,” Cyborg wrote today on her official website. “That is what makes it a sport and not entertainment, otherwise what are the girls fighting at (145 pounds) training to work towards if they know they will never be given a title shot even if they become the best in the world? I have a responsibility to the sport to ensure that when I retire the division continues to exist, and it is because of that I want my next fight to be against a contender from the featherweight division that has fought at (145 pounds) within the last year.
“If Megan Anderson is not ready to fight, then the next available contender Pam Sorenson deserves the opportunity. I can continue giving fans super fights. However, in order for this division to grow, it is my responsibility to respect the work of all the women fighting at (145 pounds) and give the top girls a chance at the title once they have earned it.
“If Amanda Nunes truly wants an opportunity at the (145-pound) belt, a win against any ranked contender in that division would help establish her back in a weight class she left before fighting me.”
Cyborg has previously shown an unwillingness to face Nunes based on the fact she is a fellow Brazilian. A reason White doesn’t let fly, “When you’re the world champion, it doesn’t matter if you’re fighting a Brazilian, a German, a Puerto Rican, a friggin’ Cuban, whoever,” he said. “You fight whoever comes and tries to take your belt from you.”
Personally, Nunes is a tough matchup, but all Cyborg gains is beating a fighter from a lower weight class. A fellow 145lb fighter makes more sense, but as former UFC champion, Meisha Tate, brought up – is Megan Anderson a bit green for what would undoubtedly be the hardest fight of her career?
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