Valentina Shevchenko or 145 next? UFC champ Amanda Nunes lays out her game plan

HOUSTON – UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes appears to have backed away from a plan to immediately challenge for the soon-to-be-realized featherweight belt.

“I think (Valentina Shevchenko) will be my next opponent,” Nunes on Thursday told USA TODAY Sports while attending an NFL media day for Super Bowl XLI in Houston. “But I also want to go up. I want to try it. I think it will be fun.”

Nunes (14-4 MMA, 7-1 UFC), who knocked out Ronda Rousey (12-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) in her first title defense at UFC 207, previously indicated she wanted to be the promotion’s next two-division champ after Conor McGregor seized the lightweight title this past November (and was subsequently stripped of the featherweight belt).

The Brazilian champ targeted the winner of an inaugural women’s featherweight title bout between Holly Holm (10-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) and Germaine de Randamie (7-3 MMA, 3-1 UFC) at next week at UFC 208.

“I want to fight Holly Holm next,” Nunes told MMAjunkie backstage at this past Saturday’s UFC on FOX 23 event. “I know she has Germaine; I think she can take this fight. I think the fans want to see this. Me and her are the only two who’ve beaten Ronda Rousey.”

Later that night, though, Nunes cut some early promo material with Shevchenko (14-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC), who submitted Julianna Pena (8-3 MMA, 4-1 UFC) to step to the front of the line in the women’s bantamweight division.

UFC President Dana White he didn’t have a timeline for Nunes’ second title defense, a rematch from her unanimous-decision win over Shevchenko this past March.

But White added the champ should “pump the brakes” and “defend the title first,” adding the featherweight division was already in flux after it was created to accommodate Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino (17-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC), who now faces a long suspension after a failed drug test.

“This whole time I didn’t want to do it, I did it, and now here we are in this position,” he said. “So we’ll see what happens.”

Nunes said she only needs the UFC to sign off so she can start bulking up.

“I feel like I can be the champ in two weight classes, for sure,” she said today.

Nunes also talked about why she recently apologized to Rousey after her knockout win.

Check out the above video to see her appearance.

And for more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.