After her dominant finish of Miesha Tate to capture the UFC women’s bantamweight championship in the UFC 200 main event two months ago, Amanda Nunes made it clear she wants Ronda Rousey next, and has since continued to do so.
“I hope [Rousey] can get everything together and then get back in the cage soon,” Nunes told BloodyElbow.com’s The MMA Circus. “The biggest fight for my career right now was the one to get the belt. The only one that is gonna be main event and gonna be huge is Ronda Rousey coming back. Everybody wants to see me against Ronda Rousey.”
But the former champion has been relatively quiet since her shocking loss to Holly Holm last year. ‘Rowdy’ has no immediate plans of a return, it appears. UFC president Dana White recently stated that she will not fight at UFC 205, the promotion’s debut in New York, in November.
So what if Rousey never comes back? What if she chooses to focus on her already-successful Hollywood career, instead?
Nunes won’t wait long.
“Of course, I want to fight as soon as possible,” she said. “I’d be happy to wait if they tell me, ‘You are gonna fight Ronda Rousey, for sure, next year, this day.’ I’d wait. But if it’s nothing for sure, if it’s nothing set, I can’t wait. I want to fight. But we’ll see.”
Nunes wants her first title defense to be against top contender Julianna Pena if Rousey doesn’t commit to a return in the foreseeable future. Pena is currently No. 5 in the official UFC rankings and is coming off a big win over Cat Zingano this past July. However, Nunes is willing to square off against anyone.
“I don’t have any problems with fighting Julianna Pena,” she said. “I’m the champion. I’ll fight anybody the UFC gives me. UFC gives me the opponent, I’m gonna fight — that’s not my problem. My problem is, that day, to fight her. Whatever the UFC decides, I’m gonna do it.”
Valentina Shevchenko has been campaigning for a shot at the women’s 135-pound title since her upset win over ex-champ Holly Holm earlier this year. Yet Nunes doesn’t think “Bullet” deserves a title shot for numerous reasons.
Nunes said Shevchenko “has to prove herself more,” as she is only 2-1 in UFC. Plus, they’ve already fought (at UFC 196 in March), and the Brazilian came out on top.
“I already beat her by unanimous decision,” Nunes said. “I don’t know why she talks sh-t; I don’t know what she’s thinking. I’m sorry, Shevchenko, but you have to be in the line. Next time. I know she’s gonna beat a lot of girls in the division, she’s a tough girl, but Julianna Pena’s gonna be next [if Rousey doesn’t return].”
Many believe that, had Nunes vs. Shevchenko been slated for 25 minutes instead of 15, Shevchenko would have taken home the victory. Some suggested that Shevchenko had the momentum at the end of the fight, but it was simply too little, too late. Nunes said that viewpoint is invalid, though, because she wasn’t prepared for five rounds. And she, of course, had no reason to be.
“If that fight was five rounds, I’m gonna train for five rounds. I’m gonna beat her in five rounds,” she said. “I don’t know why she bring up this explanation. It doesn’t make any sense to me. In that fight, she was supposed to beat me in three rounds. She couldn’t beat me in three rounds.”
Nunes was glad when Rousey fell off the women’s bantamweight throne last year, because it mixed the division up. But she’s annoyed that Rousey is still getting more attention than most (if not all) of the division, including herself.
“There are a lot of girls in this division,” she said. “I don’t know why people only talk about Ronda Rousey. I think people have to divide things. Ronda Rousey was a champion, but it’s done. Now we have a new champion. We have a lot of girls in this division that people have to look up to.
“Who’s the real champion? Amanda Nunes.”