UFC Women’s Featherweight Champion Cyborg is defending the gold against Yana Kunitskaya this Saturday Night in the main event of UFC 222.
Former Invicta FC Bantamweight Champion Tonya Evinger has fought both champion and challenger, but she claims the main factor for Kunitskaya taking the fight is the money.
"It's all about the money [for Kunitskaya] and trying to get that fight," Evinger said to ESPN. "I think at this point they are just finding opponents to fight Cyborg for a single fight. It's not like they are building the weight class. Anybody who fights her right now is pretty much just looking for that payday."
Evinger suffered a third round TKO loss to Cyborg at UFC 214, while defeating Kunitskaya in their rematch at Invicta FC 22 (their first bout at Invicta FC 20 ended via no contest).
The UFC star thinks that when Cyborg and Kunitskaya step into the Octagon, it is going to be an easy win for the champion.
"I definitely think Cyborg is going to take this pretty easy," Evinger said. "It's not even a close fight. Yana isn't close to that level or even prepared. She's just taking it for the money. I heard someone try to compare her to Holly Holm because they train together, but big whoop. It's not like over the last six months this girl has gotten so amazing that she is going to go in and win the 145-pound belt. That's ridiculous."
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.
