UFC president, Dana White has played down a potential promotional return for former featherweight champion and current Bellator MMA gold holder, Cris Cyborg, pointing to the fact that her nearest competition, recently minted two-weight champion, Amanda Nunes previously landed a first minute knockout win over her.
Cris Cyborg, a former Invicta FC, Strikeforce, and UFC featherweight champion, managed to successfully score her fourth title defense back in April, defeating two-time opponent, Arlene Blencowe with a unanimous decision win.
As for Nunes, the Bahia native headlined UFC 277 just last weekend against two-time opponent, Julianna Peña – securing an impressively, one-sided unanimous decision win over the Washington native in the pair’s bantamweight title rematch.
With the Brazilian duo running out of distinct competition to challenge for their respective titles, Cyborg, whose contract with the Scott Coker-led Bellator is set to expire within her next couple of fights, has been linked with a somewhat left-field UFC return, in order to secure a title rematch with Nunes.
Dana White shuts down UFC comeback for Cris Cyborg
However, as per the aforenoted, White – Nunes’ December 2018 first round knockout win over the Curitiba veteran places doubt in his mind if Cyborg should pursue a return to the organization.
“I mean, Amanda (Nunes) absolutely dominated (Cris) Cyborg,” Dana White told assembled media following Dana White’s Contender Series. “The (Valentina) Shevchenko fight makes way more sense – and I’m not just sh*tting on Cyborg ‘cause we’ve had history.”
“To be honest with you, I don’t usually talk about this sh*t publicly – you know what I say, I don’t tell you guys anything, but she (Cris Cyborg) actually texted me and wished me a happy birthday, you know, for my birthday,” Dana White continued. “It’s not like Cyborg and I hate each other and I’m not trying to discredit her, be mean to her – I wish her the best in whatever she’s doing. And it was nice of her to send me a birthday text. I just wanted to reiterate that I am not sh*tting on Cyborg.”
In her final contracted fight with the UFC, Cyborg managed to defeat the now-retired, Felicia Spencer at UFC 240 in July 2019, defeating the Canadian with a unanimous decision win in a co-headlining outing.