Tag: Yana Kunitskaya

Quote: Cris Cyborg Doesn’t Have Knockout Power

She may be facing by far the toughest test of her MMA career when she meets Cris Cyborg in the main event of this weekend’s (Sat., March 3, 2018) UFC 222 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, but Yana Kunitskaya says she isn’t feeling pressure. Speaking up during an interview with MMAJunkie, the […]

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She may be facing by far the toughest test of her MMA career when she meets Cris Cyborg in the main event of this weekend’s (Sat., March 3, 2018) UFC 222 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, but Yana Kunitskaya says she isn’t feeling pressure.

Speaking up during an interview with MMAJunkie, the Jackson-Wink product said she watched Cyborg throughout her five-round victory over Holly Holm at December’s UFC 219 and noticed holes in the bruising Brazilian’s game ‘everywhere’:

“I don’t feel any pressure. Everyone has weaknesses, and her last fight with Holly (Holm), it was five rounds, and it showed a lot. I was getting ready for everything and find holes everywhere – in stand-up and the ground in wrestling. I’m trying to get ready for everything.”

After winning the vacant Invicta FC bantamweight title last year, Kunitskaya was originally set to make her UFC debut against a much less high-profile opponent, but when Max Holloway was forced out of his scheduled UFC 222 main event with Frankie Edgar, the chance to meet Cyborg on short notice arose.

It was obviously an opportunity she couldn’t pass up, one that she revealed she’d been dreaming about ever since Cyborg was dominating her opponents in Strikeforce:

“Since she started fighting in Strikeforce (I’ve been thinking about it),” Kunitskaya said. “I wanted to fight in Strikeforce, but I couldn’t get a visa, an American visa. After she was fighting in Invicta and then in UFC. All my career I was thinking about this; one day I would fight her. I’m happy this is happening in big show in the UFC, and it’s a good chance for me.”

The bout came to fruition in a somewhat haphazard manner, but Kunitskaya said she was already training so it didn’t affect her camp as much. With dates, times, and opponents constantly shifting, she said she was pleased to finally get the biggest opponent possible:

“I was in my camp for a couple months and was getting ready, and the UFC kept changing everything for me,” Kunitskaya said. “Dates, weight class, girls. So I was just training very hard and was ready for any moment. Three weeks before they told me Cris Cyborg, so I was excited and kept training hard.”

The excitement soon waned, however, and she knew she would be in for the biggest challenge of her athletic career. But even though she believes Cyborg is a strong fighter, perhaps her claimed lack of intimidation comes in the form of her belief that Cyborg doesn’t have real knockout power:

“I know that she’s strong, but I don’t think she has that strong of knockout power,” Kunitskaya said. “She has no clean knockouts where girls go down, like Holly (Holm) have. But yes, she’s very tough. She finishes all the fights by technical knockout. I think I’m strong, too, strong enough to compare with her.”

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Yana Kunitskaya: I’m Strong Enough to Compare With Cris Cyborg

Yana Kunitskaya feels her power is comparable to that of Cris Cyborg. This Saturday night (March 3), Kunitskaya will challenge Cyborg for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women’s featherweight title. The championship bout will headline UF…

Yana Kunitskaya feels her power is comparable to that of Cris Cyborg. This Saturday night (March 3), Kunitskaya will challenge Cyborg for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women’s featherweight title. The championship bout will headline UFC 222. The action takes place inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Unfazed Speaking to MMAJunkie.com, Kunitskaya said […]

Frankie Edgar Reacts To Conor McGregor’s UFC 222 Fight Claims

Last week, absent UFC lightweight champ Conor McGregor ‘confirmed’ his MMA return with the mere flick of an Instagram post before taking it a step further and claiming he even offered to fill in for featherweight champ Max Holloway against Frankie Edgar at this weekend’s (Sat., March 3, 2018) UFC 222 from Las Vegas. Even […]

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Last week, absent UFC lightweight champ Conor McGregor ‘confirmed’ his MMA return with the mere flick of an Instagram post before taking it a step further and claiming he even offered to fill in for featherweight champ Max Holloway against Frankie Edgar at this weekend’s (Sat., March 3, 2018) UFC 222 from Las Vegas.

Even though the potentially monstrous comeback fight never came close to materializing due to the UFC saying they didn’t have enough time to capitalize, the claim understandably set a big news-starved MMA world (with much of it due to ‘The Notorious” hiatus) afire for at least one night.

Both Edgar’s manager Ali Abdel-Aziz and boxing coach Mark Henry were quick to fire back at McGregor with seething responses to the outlandish news, but “The Answer” stayed relatively mum on the dream match-up. Until now, that is, as the former lightweight champ spoke up about the never-to-be fight to Ariel Helwani on today’s episode of The MMA Hour. The New Jersey ironman said he awoke to see rumors of it online, but that was the fist he had heard of it:

“I woke up from a nap and I saw it on Twitter. That’s the first I heard of it.”

Apparently, word later arrived that McGregor did offer to fight at UFC 222, but wanted it to be for a never-before-contested 165-pound belt, something Edgar called ridiculous considering McGregor was yet to defend either his lightweight or featherweight belt:

“I mean, come on, there is no 165-pound belt. You know what I’m saying? I want to fight on the moon. You know what I mean? Come on.

“He doesn’t want to defend his own belt. What, he wants to fight me? I mean, hey, that’d be great. That’d be great for me. Let’s be real. I’m not scared to fight anybody. Come on, I’ve been doing this too long to be scared to fight anybody. I mean, if anything, that would be very good for me, to fight Conor McGregor.”

Mandatory Credit: Steve Flynn-USA TODAY Sports

And while Edgar would love to face McGregor and the payday he brings in the Octagon, he didn’t believe it was close to true because Dana White didn’t call him – even if he would fight McGregor at any weight:

“I would’ve fought him in any weight class, to be honest with you.

“I think if it was real, Dana would’ve called me personally. He’s done it before. With something like that, Dana would’ve called me personally, and he didn’t, so I have to think that it wasn’t real.”

To “The Answer” – and many others – McGregor was simply keeping his name in the news, something he does perhaps better than any fighter other than his forever-rival Floyd Mayweather.

With that taken into consideration, Edgar said he wouldn’t let the Irishman get him sidetracked. He has his hands full with Ortega – a hungry, rising contender who is active in the UFC unlike ‘The Notorious’:

“I don’t know, I think Conor’s just being Conor, man. He’s the best at it, right? He’s the best at making news and staying relevant. I don’t mean relevant, he’s the most popular guy in our sport, this and that, but staying in the news cycle. He does it better than anybody, except maybe Floyd Mayweather.

“I’m not surprised by it, and I’m not getting sidetracked by it because it doesn’t matter,” Edgar added. “It’s non-news to me. Because the news is I’m fighting a guy who fights in the UFC right now, Brian Ortega.”

Despite the drama, Edgar doesn’t believe he and McGregor will ever fight because of the opportunities they’ve had to do so when McGregor was actually at featherweight and it didn’t happen.

So ‘The Answer’ put the talk about the unlikely payday with McGregor aside because he is aware of the dangerous challenge he has waiting in only five days:

“If we’re going to fight, we’ll fight. But I doubt it,” Edgar said. “I really don’t think we’ll ever cross paths. I really don’t. … We’ve had many times it could’ve been real, and it just never materialized. And if it didn’t materialize then, I just don’t see why would it happen now.

“I’m putting it totally aside, because it’s easy with this whole Conor news and Max, it’s easy to get sidetracked and think about Max, think about Conor,” Edgar said. “I’ve got to focus on Ortega, man. It’s a dangerous fight. Everyone says, ‘Oh, it’s a risky fight,’ and they’re right. I’m putting a lot of the line and that’s my focus.”

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New UFC 222 Poster Is Out – Is It Better Than The First?

Earlier this week, March 3’s UFC 222 from Las Vegas got a late-notice main event when news came that women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg would be meeting Invicta FC bantamweight champ Yana Kunitskaya. Back when the event was scheduled to be headlined by an anticipated featherweight title clash between champion Max Holloway and Frankie Edgar, […]

The post New UFC 222 Poster Is Out – Is It Better Than The First? appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Earlier this week, March 3’s UFC 222 from Las Vegas got a late-notice main event when news came that women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg would be meeting Invicta FC bantamweight champ Yana Kunitskaya.

Back when the event was scheduled to be headlined by an anticipated featherweight title clash between champion Max Holloway and Frankie Edgar, the promotion drew a large amount of criticism for the original poster online for what was viewed as having a very weak fight between heavyweights Andrei Arlovski and Stefan Struve as the co-main event.

Well, they released an all-new, revamped poster today, and it’s safe to say it does look at least a little bit better now that Edgar moved into the co-headliner versus surging young contender Brian Ortega. Check it out right here:

With Cyborg a justifiable -1000 betting favorite heading into her bout with Kunitskaya, who will make her UFC debut, the general opinion is that she’s going to run through the Invicta bantamweight champ like she’s run through the rest of her opponents.

That’s really all there is in the UFC’s women’s featherweight division right now, however, so in that sense, it’s business as usual.

But the co-main between Edgar and Ortega is a great fight, one where Edgar is taking all of the risk in fighting a highly dangerous opponent to essentially save his spot as the No. 1 contender. That itself has made the new UFC 222 poster much better than the first.

Is it enough to get you to pay for the card?

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Shocker: Cyborg Massive Favorite Heading Into UFC 222

To the surprise of no one, Cris Cyborg has opened up as a massive betting favorite against Yana Kunitskaya for their UFC 222 title fight. Kunitskaya is taking on the UFC women’s featherweight champion in a late-replacement bout in the main event of March 3’s UFC 222 after original headliner Max Holloway was forced out of his […]

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To the surprise of no one, Cris Cyborg has opened up as a massive betting favorite against Yana Kunitskaya for their UFC 222 title fight.

Kunitskaya is taking on the UFC women’s featherweight champion in a late-replacement bout in the main event of March 3’s UFC 222 after original headliner Max Holloway was forced out of his featherweight title defense versus Frankie Edgar. Cyborg had previously been linked to a much-discussed superfight with UFC bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes at July’s anticipated UFC 226.

Before then, Cyborg will defend her featherweight belt against the relative unknown Kunitskaya and opened as a -1000 betting favorite compared to a +600 Kunitskaya. That means the challenger is a six-to-one underdog while at 10 to 1, the champion has the full and unbridled confidence from the bookmakers.

Kunitskaya is a 28-year-old Russian who will be making her UFC debut against Cyborg, an admittedly tall order.

Elsewhere, former WWE superstar-turned-fighter CM Punk will be a +200 under to Mike Jackson, himself an MMA journalist who moonlights as a fighter for up-and-comers. He was Mickey Gall’s first UFC opponent in his Octagon debut and will serve as a suitable dance partner for the woefully inexperienced Punk at the June card from Chicago.

It seems that Cyborg will make a quick title defense before the rumored superfight with Nunes this summer, assuming she gets past this UFC newcomer.

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Cris Cyborg Steps Up To Save UFC 222

The all-out mess that is March 3’s UFC 222 pay-per-view from Las Vegas finally has a replacement headliner. News broke from MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani that women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg was rumored to be fighting Invicta FC bantamweight champion Yana Kunitskaya in place of the originally booked Max Holloway vs. Frankie Edgar featherweight championship. Edgar […]

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The all-out mess that is March 3’s UFC 222 pay-per-view from Las Vegas finally has a replacement headliner.

News broke from MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani that women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg was rumored to be fighting Invicta FC bantamweight champion Yana Kunitskaya in place of the originally booked Max Holloway vs. Frankie Edgar featherweight championship.

Edgar is reported to be taking on Brian Ortega in the co-headliner as has been talked about ever since Holloway was forced off the event last weekend:

The fights were soon confirmed, good news for the UFC as they attempt to crawl out of an early-year funk that’s seen two consecutive pay-per-view main events fall apart after middleweight champion Robert Whittaker was also unable to fight at this weekend’s UFC 221.

TJ Dillashaw vs. Cody Garbrandt in a rematch of their UFC 217 bout was talked about but ultimately shot down by Dillashaw, who had a litany of reasons for not giving his former Team Alpha Male teammate-turned-rival an immediate rematch.

Some will deride the UFC’s decision to have Cyborg continue facing bantamweights she outweighs by gross margins, but at this point in time, there wasn’t much else they could do.

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