UFC Women’s Featherweight Champion Cristiane “CYborg” Justino is defending the gold against Yana Kunitskaya in the main event of UFC 222.
Cyborg has been rumored to be fighting UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Amanda Nunes for quite some time now and she would like the bout to happen at UFC 226.
”I have heard Amanda Nunes is fighting Raquel Pennington in Brazil,” said Cyborg to Flo Combat. “I think she still has fights in her division, especially with Cat Zingano facing Ketlen Vieira at UFC 222 to establish the next No. 1 contender at 135 pounds; however, I know the UFC and Amanda have been asking for this fight and have accepted it with my manager, who is now working on making it happen. I am hopeful that if we both win our next fights impressively it can happen at UFC 226.”
Nunes and Raquel Pennington are rumored to be fighting at UFC 224, but nothing has been made official at this time.
The women’s featherweight champion is stepping up on short notice to headline the UFC 222 card and the Brazilian hopes it proves to the UFC that she is willing to do good for the promotion.
”There are not a lot of fighters who are willing to put their championship belt on the line with three weeks’ notice,” Cyborg said. “I am hoping that my actions will show the UFC that I am willing to do what is good for the company and that because of this we will see me get a little bit more of the marketing and exposure I have been campaigning for.”
UFC 222 takes place on Saturday, March 3 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada with Cyborg and Yana Kunitskaya headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
