UFC president Dana White is once again throwing the ball into Cris Cyborg’s court regarding a potential rematch with double champ Amanda Nunes.
Amanda Nunes just scored yet another violent finish over a top name in women’s MMA, knocking out Holly Holm with cruelly ironic head kick knockout (see the finish here). At this point there aren’t many names left for Nunes to face off with, which just puts the spotlight more on a potential rematch with former 145 pound champion Cris Cyborg.
Nunes took the featherweight belt off Cyborg back at the end of 2018, and Cyborg has been stumping for the rematch ever since. Instead of that she’ll be facing surging Canadian prospect Felicia Spencer at UFC 240 on July 27th. But according to UFC president Dana White, the rematch is there for her if she wants it.
“Nunes wants the rematch with Cyborg next,” White told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. “We’ll see if Cyborg is up for that, and if she wants to do that. And if not, there will be somebody else, there’s always somebody else.”
A strange way to say it? Why wouldn’t Cyborg want that fight? When you ask her, she claims the UFC is the one stopping things from happening. When Okamoto pressed White on where the disconnect was happening, White blamed Cyborg.
”What do you think? Do you think I’m really not trying to make the rematch?” he asked. “I’ve been putting on fights for 20 years. So do you really think I’m not trying to make the rematch? So what does that tell you. There’s not two sides of the story, there are three sides to the story. You got Amanda who says she wants it. You got me saying I’ll make it. And you’ve got the other one saying she was never offered it. You do the math on that one.”
If we are suppose to be business partners and building trust so that we can work towards a new deal Let’s stop the lies. @danawhite @paradigmsm #CyborgNation @ufc @espnmma @Amanda_Leoa pic.twitter.com/u9B2BOKXwO
— Cris Cyborg on Youtube (@criscyborg) June 28, 2019
With the Spencer fight being the last fight on Cyborg’s UFC contract, we have little doubt this is all some petty public negotiation tactic. Will it end with Cyborg vs. Nunes 2 or Cyborg walking away to another promotion? That’s the big question. But White made it clear at the end he was still interested in making it happen.
”Sure. We’ll do a deal with her tomorrow to fight Amanda Nunes for the rematch,” he said. “There you go.”