Women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes may defend her title against #3 ranked contender Raquel Pennington.
With Cris Cyborg set to fight Yana Kunitskaya at UFC 222, that shelves (at least temporarily) a potential super showdown between her and bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes.
So what’s the next step for Nunes? It looks as if a fight with Raquel Pennington is the plan, according to MMA Weekly’s Damon Martin.
Sources say Amanda Nunes vs. Raquel Pennington is being discussed currently…haven’t heard a date but I’d assume UFC 224 in Brazil would be a likely landing spot. #UFC
— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) February 7, 2018
Nunes (15-4) has twice successfully defended her title, thrashing Ronda Rousey at UFC 207 and then winning a somewhat controversial split decision vs. Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 215. She’s won her last six fights dating back to 2015, and only Shevchenko (on two occasions) has been able to last the distance with her.
Pennington (9-5) is on a four-fight winning streak, most recently besting former champion Miesha Tate at UFC 205. Unfortunately, she missed much of 2017 due to shoulder surgery, then in October she broke her leg while on a hunting trip, taking her out of a planned matchup with Nunes at UFC 219. “Rocky” recently told MMA Fighting she was targeting a May return.
UFC 224 is set for May 12th in Rio de Janeiro. The card currently does not have a main event, and if they’re looking for Brazilian headliners, then Nunes figures to be a logical choice, seeing as she and Cyborg are the only Brazilian UFC champions.