This bout will serve as the final one under Cyborg’s current contract, but UFC President Dana White is willing to offer the fighter a one fight deal if she wants to face Amanda Nunes again.
“I believe that my guys have been trying to get a new deal done with her,” White said after a recent press conference (via Mike Bohn & John Morgan of MMA Junkie). “Obviously, if we’re trying to make the Amanda Nunes fight, we’re trying to get a new deal done, too. Of course (I still want her around). It’s not like we’re trying to chase her out of here. We’re trying to get something done here. We’re trying to get another fight. Or, if she wanted to, she could do a one-fight deal and fight Amanda. Sure (I would do a one-fight deal). She doesn’t want to fight Amanda Nunes. Period. End of story. She wouldn’t be a free agent (if she won). She’d have the belt and there’s a clause that goes along with the belt. So it wouldn’t really be a (one-fight deal).”
White has been critical of the former women’s featherweight champion in the past, saying that Cyborg is afraid to lose to Nunes for a second time.
The UFC President knows that his relationship with Cyborg isn’t the best, but White thought the beef was squashed between them.
“She loves me; we’re really good friends, her and I,” White joked. “She’s mad at me again for some reason. Listen: I’m not saying anything negative about Cyborg. She does not want to fight Amanda Nunes. That is a fact. Why she would be mad at me because she doesn’t want to fight Amanda Nunes is beyond me. I have no problem with Cris. I said many times earlier when she first came in there were obviously some things we had to squash and fix, and I thought we had done that. I’ve had a decent working relationship with her. Believe me, I’ve had much worse.”
UFC 240 takes place on Saturday, July 27 from Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada with Max Holloway and Frankie Edgar headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
