After beating four natural bantamweights in a row, Cyborg wants to pick on someone her own size.
The UFC have a problem with matchmaking for Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino. She’s arguably the greatest female fighter to walk the Earth, but she’s the champion of the weakest division in the promotion.
It’s nearly been a full year since the UFC opened up the division, but there are not enough fighters for official rankings. With no actual contenders, it is unknown who Cyborg will defend her title against next. Although, president Dana White is pushing for a superfight against Amanda Nunes, as he told Yahoo! Sports.
“First of all, Amanda Nunes wants to fight her. Amanda Nunes wants to fight Cyborg. That is the fight to make and that is the fight I will make. That’s the fight. 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.”
Warrior #UFC219 https://t.co/Y9GSGgYtek
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) December 31, 2017
White could be right. Right now, this seems like the fight to make. Aside from the fact that it’s a stylistically intriguing bout, it makes sense because there is no logical number one contender at women’s bantamweight either.
Nunes has already beaten Valentina Shevchenko twice, Holly Holm just lost to Cyborg and is 1-4 in her last five, Julianna Pena is expecting a baby, Raquel Pennington is on the mend from a broken leg and the UFC are unlikely to give Germaine de Randamie a title shot anytime soon. This means that if Nunes wants to fight at 135 lbs next, she may have to wait for a contender to emerge from the Cat Zingano vs Ketlin Vieira fight at UFC 222.
While Invicta champion Megan Anderson has long been linked with a bout against Cyborg, we might have to wait for that booking.
Fyi… pic.twitter.com/3RqHMJSZAz
— Megan Anderson (@MeganAnderson) January 4, 2018
Cyborg isn’t too keen on a superfight against Nunes though, as she explained on her official website. She wants the UFC to draft in a natural featherweight to take her on.
“Having re-established myself as the WORLD CHAMPION at 145lbs I feel it is my obligation to fight the #1 contender at 145lbs in my next fight. I have fought 4 consecutive fights against girls who have come up from 135lbs to fight me, because they were “SUPERFIGHTS” for the fans.”
“I have a responsibility to the sport to ensure that when I retire the 145lbs 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 145lbs within the last year.”
If Anderson isn’t available, she called for the promotion to draft in Pam Sorenson for a crack at the belt. Sorenson (7-2) is riding a two-fight win streak, with her most recent win being a 140 lb catchweight contest against Jane Finney. She’s not quite as big of a name as Nunes, but at least she’s used to competing at featherweight.
