Amanda Nunes may one day be flyweight champ but Valentina Shevchenko? 'I don't care about her'

RIO DE JANEIRO – Amanda Nunes is toying with the idea of becoming the first fighter in history to win UFC titles in three different weightclasses. And if that path leads to a third fight with Valentina Shevchenko, so be it.

But “Lioness” says she’s certainly not interested in seeking out the matchup, at any weight class.

“I don’t care about her,” Nunes told MMAjunkie. “She’s, like, only Valentina. She’s going to talk about me. I’m the best, you know? That’s why she talks about me.

“I beat her twice. She had her chance to try and beat me, clear. She did a couple of things in the (second) fight, but I don’t think she deserves the belt. She wasn’t able to hold me back that much in the cage. It was the same in the first fight.”

Nunes (15-4 MMA, 8-1 UFC) is currently slated to face Raquel Pennington (9-5 MMA, 6-2 UFC) in the main event of UFC 224, which takes place May 12 at Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro.

While Nunes is a heavy favorite in the contest, she’s also wise enough to know looking past anyone in the octagon can prove a critical mistake.

Still, Nunes’ name keeps coming up in potential matchups outside of the division, whether it be moving up to featherweight to challenge current champ Cris Cyborg, or even potentially moving down to flyweight to face either current champ Nicco Montano or – perhaps even more intriguingly – Shevchenko (15-3 MMA, 4-2 UFC), especially if “Bullet” is able to get her hands on the belt.

“Right now, I’m really focused on this fight (with Pennington); it’s very hard to talk about the next step,” Nunes said. “I have to go through this one first. But when you get in my position, I’m the best in my division. I think from here, you only want to prove yourself more and more. Going down to 125 and trying the 125 belt, or going up, this is the thing that sometimes you have to do to keep yourself in the top.

“Imagine if I beat the girls in the other divisions. That’s going to be huge for me. It’s going to be a lot of dreams come true. But right now, I’m focusing on this fight. This fight is a big fight in my career right now, and to keep this belt is more important to me.”

Nunes remains the only fighter thus far to hand Shevchenko a UFC loss, though both fights seemed to leave a few questions hanging in the balance.

The first fight, a three-round affair in March 2016, saw Nunes start strong but fade late, leaving some to wonder whether she could maintain a proper pace over five rounds. In September 2017, Nunes put her title on the line against Shevcheko in a five-round contest, and she walked away with a split-decision win that she feels was properly scored – but have left others with a touch more doubt.

Shevchenko certainly believes there is unfinished business between the two and that a third fight is needed at some point.

Nunes won’t rule it out, should Shevchenko have something she wants, but a trilogy fight doesn’t seem to be a priority for the Brazilian champ.

“I think she likes to talk,” Nunes said of Shevchenko.

To hear more from Nunes, check out the video above.

And for more on UFC 224, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.