Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White is willing to rubber stamp a trilogy even when one fighter is down two-zip, like in the case of Alexander Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway, but when it comes to bridging separate divisions, there’s little motivation to keep the rivalry going.
That’s why fans are unlikely to see a third fight between reigning bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes and current flyweight titleholder Valentina Shevchenko, which is a little strange considering White previously admitted a trilogy made sense.
“I don’t know if that fight needs to happen,” White told TSN. “I don’t know. I’ve thought about it a lot. You know they’re both incredible in their own weight classes. They already fought twice. Why do it again? I would imagine if they wanted to do it bad enough and the fans wanted it bad enough, I would do it but I don’t see much point in it.”
Nunes (21-4), who defends her title against Julianna Pena at UFC 269 this weekend in Las Vegas, captured a unanimous decision victory over Shevchenko (22-3) after three rounds of action at UFC 196 back in March 2016, but nearly lost their five-round rematch at UFC 215.
“Here’s the thing that’s unfair for Valentina — Amanda Nunes is a lot bigger than her,” White continued. “[135] and [145] pound women she can fight. Valentina’s without a doubt the baddest woman in the world in her weight division and below. But to move up with that much weight. Yeah, can she hang? Will it go to a split decision? It’s tough to call.”
We probably won’t find out anytime soon.