UFC’s Amanda Nunes to defend title; puts ‘Cyborg’ fight on hold

Nunes will fight at least one more time at 135 pounds before moving up to face featherweight champ Cris “Cyborg” Justino in an effort to become the first female fighter to hold UFC belts in two different weight classes.

It was a bit of a shock when Nunes heard Justino had accepted a late-notice fight to step in and defend her belt against Yana Kunitskaya in the main event of Saturday’s UFC 222 card at T-Mobile Arena.

“I was surprised, but it is what it is,” Nunes said Saturday in Orlando, Florida. “I’d love to fight ‘Cyborg,’ but I can wait. We don’t get everything we want. We’ll see after this fight.”

Nunes was referring to both Justino’s matchup and her own against top bantamweight contender Raquel Pennington. Once Nunes learned Justino had a fight booked, she agreed to a title defense of her own.

While the fight is not official, it is expected to take place on the UFC 224 card May 12 in Rio de Janeiro.

Nunes feels when she does move up for the potential superfight against Justino, she will need the time to do it properly. It didn’t make much sense to sit around and wait to find out what might happen or start preparing for a fight that may not materialize. She also couldn’t accept it so soon when Justino decided to step in on a card that lost its headliner less than a month ago.

“(Cyborg) wants to fight soon and I want some time to get prepared for her,” Nunes said. “I want to add muscle to be 100 percent prepared for 145 pounds, but she wants to fight someone else before that. We can still make it happen in the future. I’m excited for it, but I need some time. To go up isn’t that easy.”

It makes sense for Nunes to maintain the status quo, anyway. She is as happy as she’s ever been.

“This is the best time of my life,” she said. “Everything I want, I have. My family’s happy, my girlfriend is happy. I’m happy. This is amazing. I’m almost 30 and I’m a champion. It’s exactly what I hoped for when I started my career.”

Now she has a fight to look forward to as well.

Nunes believes Pennington will provide enough of a challenge that she won’t get caught looking ahead to Justino.

She’s also not looking back.

The Brazil native and south Florida resident doesn’t have a whole lot of interest in a third fight against Valentina Shevchenko or a second with Ronda Rousey.

Nunes needed less than a minute to knock out Rousey, who hasn’t fought since and will now compete in the WWE.

“She has to do whatever is good for her life,” Nunes said. “She loves it. She’s happy. That’s what’s important. I think she did the right thing. If she wants to come back, she can. The UFC loves Ronda and the fans too, but I just think she’s doing the right thing for her right now.”

She has two narrow wins over Shevchenko, who has now dropped to flyweight, where is expected to fight for the belt. Nunes shrugged off another matchup in the future.

“I don’t think anyone wants to see that,” she said. “We all know she’s a boring fighter. She doesn’t bring the best out of me because she’s running the whole time. I have to try to find her in the cage. I feel like the UFC and the fans want an exciting fight. I don’t think anyone wants that, but if it happened, I’d kick her ass a third time.”

Jones set for CSAC hearing

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones is expected to appear before the California State Athletic Commission on Tuesday to answer for a failed drug test the day before he defeated Daniel Cormier in July.

Turinabol, an anabolic steroid, was determined to be in Jones’ system after tests earlier in the month were clean. Jones also passed a test the day after the fight, though it wasn’t screened for turinabol.

Jones was stripped of the belt and the fight was ruled a no-contest. He was previously suspended one year for the presence of banned anti-estrogen blockers in his system.

He will also face a disciplinary hearing with the United States Anti-Doping Agency, which runs the UFC’s drug program.

Tuesday’s hearing begins at 10 a.m. in Anaheim.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-277-8028. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.