Double champ Amanda Nunes is down to fight Cris Cyborg in a rematch … as soon as she gets done with Holly Holm at UFC 239.
Cris Cyborg may have just gotten the fight she wants, but as usual she had to pester the UFC to get it.
Cyborg has been campaigning for an immediate rematch against Amanda Nunes ever since Nunes knocked her out 51 seconds into their first meeting in December of 2018. Unfortunately for her, the UFC had other ideas. Nunes will instead defend her bantamweight belt against Holly Holm at UFC 239 in July, and Cris Cyborg will apparently continue to sit on the sidelines as she has been for the past six months.
All that waiting has clearly made her a bit antsy, and she (or whoever is managing her socials at the moment) threw this salty tweet out to the universe in obvious frustration.
#CyborgNation Remember I asked for an immediate rematch and was told No.
— Cris Cyborg on Youtube (@criscyborg) June 9, 2019
That probably would have been a throwaway thought causing little commotion … but then the tweet was read by a reporter to UFC president Dana White at the UFC 238 post-event press conference.
”Cyborg just tweeted and said she asked for an immediate rematch [with Nunes] and you had told her no,” the reporter said. “So … do you remember that, was that accurate?”
”Hey Cyborg,” White said with a chuckle before consulting with UFC exec Hunter Campbell. “Amanda wanted to fight at 135 again, defend her belt there. She’s fighting Holly. Then go back to 145 to face Cyborg. She wants to fight you now.”
But White made it sound like Cyborg could end up being the hold out.
”She wants that Cyborg fight bad, so if Cyborg is interested, we can do it,” he said. “If Cyborg’s not interested, like I said, it’s okay. Not saying anything about Cyborg. I’m just saying that’s just the way it played out. But she’s ready willing and able. If she beats Holly, she wants to fight Cyborg. So if Cyborg wants the fight, it’s there.”
Suffice to say, the relationship between Cyborg and the UFC has always seemed frostier than it should be. Cyborg is clearly not feeling the love, and White seems tired of trying to work things out with her. Hopefully it won’t affect a Cyborg vs. Nunes rematch from coming together, but it certainly wouldn’t be the first huge fight that never comes together because of strange promotional politics.