Cat Zingano ready to fight, even if it's against Rousey-Davis winner at UFC 176

Cat Zingano is cleared and ready to fight, even if it means a short-notice headliner at next month’s UFC 176 event.

As MMAjunkie reported earlier this week, UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo (24-1 MMA, 6-0 UFC) was forced out of the Aug. 2 event’s headliner against Chad Mendes (16-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC). The bout is expected to be rebooked in the fall, and as of now, a new main event hasn’t been announced.

However, at least one contender said she’d be ready for next month’s pay-per-view event, which takes place at Los Angeles’ Staples Center.

Zingano (8-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC), who had been promised a title shot with women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey in 2013 before a knee injury sidelined the challenger, was recently cleared to resume training. In fact, she said she’s been talking to UFC officials about a potential next booking.

So what have they been talking about, exactly?

“Me fighting Chad Mendes,” she told MMAjunkie Radio with a laugh.

In all seriousness, though, Zingano said she’s ready to go and that her knee is no longer an issue.

“I’m not worried about it,” she said. “I got cleared a couple months ago to start training hard, and I’ve been doing just that since. So, I feel good. I’m strong. I’m really hitting it hard, and I’ve having a good time doing it.”

One potential option? A quick turnaround at UFC 176 with the winner of tonight’s UFC 175 co-headliner between Rousey (9-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) and challenger Alexis Davis (16-5 MMA, 3-0 UFC).

Sure, it’s not exactly probable. Rousey holds the record for the quickest turnaround time for a UFC champion, but her 56-day span between UFC 168 and UFC 170 title defenses would be cut in half to 28 days if she fought at both UFC 175 and UFC 176. Should Rousey, a massive 10-1 favorite over Davis, notch her fourth straight title defense tonight, she hasn’t shot down the possibility of another quick turnaround. In fact, the champ said she could fight on 24 hours’ notice.

Still, Zingano doesn’t think it’s likely to happen, but she said she’s game if UFC officials want them on the UFC 176 card.

“In my heart and my soul, yeah, I could,” she said. “I could do it tomorrow. But it’s not up to me obviously. (There were) many times this year I thought something was going on and something else happened. But it’s not up to me.

” … Yeah, I could. I do believe I could. But the thing is that that’s not what they’re talking about.”

As far as tonight’s fight, she understands why Rousey is such a big favorite but stresses that “anything can happen” in the fight. She’d like to get that long-awaited fight with Rousey, but she’s not choosing sides.

After all, when it comes to potential opponents, she said she never makes it a personal thing.

“I’m not here to make friends,” she said. “I’m here to be the best in the world and to fight them and to maybe get to know them afterward. That’s something I could consider. But looking at them now, all I see if someone standing in the way of what I want, and I can’t look at them as anything but.”

For the latest on UFC 175 and UFC 176, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.