Dana White: Valentina Shevchenko-Amanda Nunes Trilogy ‘Not Something I’m Thinking About’

Asking about a potential Amanda Nunes trilogy fight has become something of a tradition following each Valentina Shevchenko title defense.

That is due in large part to Shevchenko’s dominance at 125 pounds, which continued at UFC 261 with a second-round TKO of former strawweight champion Jessica Andrade. Shevchenko’s most difficult flyweight bout arguably came at UFC 231, when she claimed the vacant belt with a five-round verdict against Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Since then, “Bullet” has rarely been tested.

Nunes has been similarly dominant at bantamweight and featherweight, but the last time she faced Shevchenko, “Lioness” won a narrow split decision in a 135-pound title bout at UFC 215 that many had going the other way. However, Nunes is now 2-0 against Shevchenko — she took a unanimous decision in their first meeting at UFC 196 — and Dana White currently doesn’t have much interest seeing them fight for a third time.

As it stands, there’s currently only one way White would sign off on a trilogy.

“[They should have] their own legacies,” the UFC president said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “They fought a couple times. People can think whatever they want. There’s always going to be somebody else coming up [to challenge Shevchenko]. There’s always a new contender. And it’s not Valentina’s fault that she’s one of the all-time baddest women on this planet. So making her move up to 135 pounds just doesn’t make sense when she did it twice.

“If they both come to me and they both want to do it, then whatever – I’ll make it happen. But it’s not something I’m thinking about.”

Shevchenko, meanwhile, believes a third date with Nunes will come when the time is right. But she isn’t pushing for the fight at the moment.

“I can say exactly about my fighting career, it’s not gonna [be] over soon,” Shevchenko said. “I plan to fight for a long time. I think that this fight is just going to happen. I’m not going to push it like, give me Amanda right now, I’m gonna break her face. I’m not gonna say it because I know this fight’s gonna happen. It’s gonna happen just literally when everyone will feel like there is no more, only this fight makes sense for everyone.

“When all the fans are like, ‘We want this. We want to see this fight.’ When the UFC and Dana White are like, ‘We just need this fight.’ I think that when it’s time to happen, it’s gonna be something big and huge and I will be ready for this. I’m already ready for this, but I will make sure to gain some pounds back.”

Nunes is slated to make her next bantamweight title defense against Julianna Pena at UFC 265 on Aug. 7.