UFC champ Cris Cyborg shoots down Dana White's push for Amanda Nunes showdown

Cris Cyborg vs. Amanda Nunes is not the fight to make, according to Cyborg.

Just a hours after UFC President Dana White today vowed to make it happen, the UFC women’s featherweight champion nixed an immediate fight with bantamweight titleholder Nunes (15-4 MMA, 8-1 UFC).

“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 (19-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC), though, remains focused on Invicta FC featherweight champion Megan Anderson (8-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC), whom she called out after beating ex-bantamweight champion Holly Holm last week at UFC 219. If that matchup doesn’t materialize, Cyborg wrote, she’ll move down the line of Invicta contenders to Pam Sorenson (6-2).

Although Cyborg didn’t dismiss a fight with Nunes outright, she said the 135-pound champ needs to prove herself at featherweight before earning a title shot.

“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 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 superfights. 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.”

In previous interviews, Cyborg hasn’t been overly excited about the prospect of facing Nunes, because she’s a fellow Brazilian, a notion White scoffed at.

“When you’re the world champion, it doesn’t mater if you’re fighting a Brazilian, a German, a Puerto Rican, a friggin’ Cuban, whoever,” White said. “You fight whoever comes and tries to take your belt from you.”

Now, Cyborg is actively pushing to face her previously scheduled opponent Anderson, who appears eager to meet the challenge. Anderson, who withdrew from a scheduled matchup with Cyborg at UFC 214, called for Cyborg to face a “legit contender” after her win at UFC 219. But she dubbed “fake news” a post from Cyborg claiming the two were headed toward a fight at UFC 221 in February, which Cyborg claimed she’d accepted an offer.

“The UFC are looking to book this fight, but since the UFC Perth card is already completely booked, it will not be happening in 6 weeks,” Anderson wrote in her Instagram post. “They can say whatever, can try make me look whatever they like, try and say someone else deserves this fight, but one thing is certain: this is the only fight that needs to happens and it will happen, soon…”

Finding willing opponents has always been a difficulty for Cyborg, who’s dominated the field at 145 pounds and once tried in vain to move to 135 pounds for a fight with now ex-champ Ronda Rousey.

But even if Anderson is willing, some MMA veterans don’t think she’s ready. Former women’s bantamweight champ Miesha Tate said Anderson is “a bit green at this point.”

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.