Cyborg shoots A. Nunes. Photo: Reproduction / YouTube ufc
The super fight of champions between Chris Cyborg e Amanda nunes It should really stay in the fans' imagination. After the 'Leoa' revealed that she no longer plans on moving up to featherweight and challenging Cris in the near future, the Paraná native wasted no time and responded to her rival. For Cyborg, Amanda challenged her earlier in the year just to get a new UFC contract.
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“I’m starting to think that Amanda nunes He only touched my name to negotiate a new contract with the UFC. Just like many other girls do, she just wants to use my name to build her own brand. She says she talked to Dana White about wanting to act soon and not have to wait too long to fight, but when you look at her record you can see that she only fought once in 2017. UFC 224 will be almost a year after her fight against Valentina – a flyweight – and a lot of people think she lost”, revealed Cris, through an official statement.
“Before I fight the Holly holm (at UFC 219, in December), Amanda's trainer gave interviews saying she wanted to face me. And after the fight against Holly, I said we would fight in July and she was quiet. When the UFC called me to agree to save UFC 222 at the last minute, I asked Amanda, but she suddenly said she wasn't ready and we didn't get the fight,” she added.
Also in the statement, Cyborg revealed that he will wait for his compatriot until UFC 226, July 7th. If Amanda is not ready for the superfight, she will give the chance to another opponent and rule out the possibility of a champion fight in the near future.
“If Amanda is not ready for UFC 226, I will fight whoever is ready. I explained to my manager that if Nunes wins in Rio and refuses to fight me in July, I will no longer want to invest time trying to make the superfight happen. We may revisit this idea if she decides to return to featherweight and re-establish herself in the division against the number one contender.”
Read Cris Cyborg's full statement about Amanda Nunes
“I'm starting to think that the Amanda nunes He only started mentioning my name to negotiate a new contract with the UFC. Like many other girls, she is using my name to create her brand. She says that she sent a text message to Dana White saying that she wanted to fight again soon and that she didn't want to wait for a fight, but when you look at the girl's record and see her own record, she only fought once in 2017…UFC 224 will take place almost a year after her last fight against Valentina – a fight against a flyweight that many people think she lost.
Before you had to fight against Holly holm, Amanda's trainer came out giving interviews saying that she wanted to face me. Immediately after the fight with Holly, I gave her the date of July, and she was quiet. You can see my conversation with her girlfriend on Twitter. When the UFC called me to accept the fight at the last minute and save UFC 222, I asked Amanda nunes, but she suddenly said she wasn't ready, and the UFC couldn't get her to accept the fight.
In an interview Amanda tells people that she just wanted to return to the octagon to stay active and that's why she wanted to fight me. But then she gives another interview saying that she needs time to gain weight before agreeing to face me.
People need to understand that my team of businesspeople has already spent a lot of time trying to make this fight happen. On July 7th it will be practically six months since I defeated Holly and since Amanda challenged me, in other words: more than enough time for her to adjust to featherweight. Amanda is not a small bantamweight, she just wasn't successful at featherweight to get a title shot against me. When Amanda canceled the fight against Valentina, I didn't care what she said, but people on her team told me that she had a bad weight cut and not that “sinusitis” excuse she gave to escape the fight.
I'm aiming for a date in July. Amanda is preparing to compete at UFC 224 instead of accepting our fight and starting to promote it. The reality is that my team has been trying to get this right since December. If Amanda is saying that she needs more time than July (six months) to make weight and fight, then it shows that she has no plans to return to bantamweight after our fight.
If Nunes plans on this superfight happening in January, I believe she needs to be honest with her fans and vacate the bantamweight belt, because there are girls, like Ketlen Scallop, who won the title shot and don't deserve to wait a year for it.
If Amanda isn't ready to fight at UFC 226 in Las Vegas, I have to tell my team that I want to fight whoever is ready. I explained to my manager that, if Amanda wins in Rio and refuses to fight in July, I will no longer invest my time trying to make this fight. We can pick this up again if Amanda decides to return to featherweight and establish herself as the number 1 contender. The cool thing about Amanda facing Pennington in Brazil is it gives my team the opportunity to see the fan base she has in the country and how much pay- per-view she will be able to sell in the United States, giving us a better idea of her side in the superfight.”
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