- Michael Bisping wants the UFC to think about pulling off a female BMF title bout between Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko
- “The Count” is not ruling out Juliann Pena’s call for a rubber match with “Lioness”
As expected, Amanda Nunes’ stunning comeback win over Julianna Pena at UFC 277 has become the hottest subject of discussion in the sport today. The lopsided bout saw “Lioness” regaining her double-champ status and as of the moment, the next challenger is yet to be talked about.
While the UFC matchmakers weigh on it, former middleweight champion Michael Bisping already made an interesting pitch.
“The Count” plays matchmaker
According to Bisping, in line with the success of the UFC BMF title fight between Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal back in 2019, the promotion should also consider booking a third fight between Nunes and reigning women’s flyweight champ Valentina Shevchenko for the female version of it.
The Brit added the UFC “Female BMF” title bout could be agreed upon at “130 pounds.”
“I would love to see [a third fight],” Bisping said on his YouTube channel. “I talked about this a while ago on the channel, I would love to see Nunes vs. Valentina Shevchenko at 130 pounds, for a female BMF title. They did it for the guys and what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Let’s have a female BMF. Valentina comes up to 130, Nunes comes down to 130, if she can, and that would be the big thing: if she can.”
There’s only one fight to consider
As things stand, Nunes is ahead of Shevchenko, having won both of their fights as bantamweights. However, Bisping’s proposal still makes sense as the Brazilian and “Bullet” have both dominated their respective divisions after the said matches.
On the other hand, “The Count” is also not writing off Pena, who immediately said she’ll be looking forward to a third fight with Nunes despite being completely dominated in the rematch.
“Now obviously there would be talk that because they are one apiece, there should be a rubber match, and technically that’s probably true,” Bisping said. “Will we see one? I don’t know, because it was a dominating performance. So I’m not sure if there is grounds for it — but actually, no. I’m wrong. It’s one apiece, so they should do a rubber match and put that to be one and for all.”
UFC president Dana White is convinced that Nunes proved she’s way ahead of Pena at UFC 277 so let’s see if a rubber match will still be considered. Meanwhile, another win over Shevchenko could surely make Nunes’ case for women’s MMA GOAT stronger so it could also be something the UFC might want to delve into.
