Dana White: ‘I don’t blame Cyborg for not wanting (to fight Amanda Nunes)’
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There has been an ongoing feud over the lack of a rematch between UFC champ-champ Amanda Nunes and former featherweight titleholder Cris "Cyborg" Justino. The funny part of it is that the feud is primarily between Cyborg and UFC president Dana White, not Cyborg and Nunes.
White and Cyborg are the ones that appear to be most at odds over why the fight has yet to be booked.
“(Nunes) wants the Cyborg rematch,” White said at Saturday's UFC 239 post-fight press conference. “We’re down to make the Cyborg rematch. Cyborg always thinks that I’m being whatever to her or whatever. I’m not. I don’t blame Cyborg for not wanting this fight. I don’t blame her. I’m not trying to say anything about her. If she doesn’t want it, that’s fine. There’s always somebody else. (Nunes) has got both belts and she’s willing to defend them both. And she’s healthy.
"This woman is tough, man. She’s unbelievable – pound-for-pound, one of the greatest of all time. But there will be somebody next. If Cyborg doesn’t want the fight, then there’s somebody next.”
Cyborg hasn't exactly said that she turned down a fight with Nunes, but hasn't said she accepted it either. She is currently heading into the last fight of her UFC contract, and it appears she wants the proper deal, at least to her, for such a rematch to take place.
"So everyone UFC understands. If your job is to promote a fighter, build a relationship towards signing a new long term contract, and promote the biggest WMMA fight ever these comments by Dana White aren’t getting us closer to that outcome," she tweeted the day after Nunes' recent successful bantamweight defense against Holly Holm.
She also recently retweeted a video she posted prior to the Nunes vs. Holm fight, calling White's comments from another interview "number one bulls--t" and "lies."
https://twitter.com/criscyborg/status/1144658156720537600
As usual, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle, or at least in the semantics of what each of the parties involved is saying or not saying. This, of course, has been par for the course in the way that White and Cyborg have hammered out their differences since before Cyborg ever fought under the UFC banner. So it wouldn't be at all surprising if we hear of new developments in the near future, as far as a new contract for Cyborg and a rematch between her and Nunes are concerned.
Amanda Nunes on what it felt like to break Ronda Rousey, Cris Cyborg, and Miesha Tate
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