Aside from current champion Amanda Nunes, there are currently not a lot of big names in the UFC women's bantamweight division. Miesha Tate has retired, Ronda Rousey is still unsure of her future in MMA, and Holly Holm is scheduled to challenge for the inaugural women's featherweight title. Because of these factors, Nunes has revealed her plans to challenge the winner of the women's featherweight title fight at UFC 208.
UFC president Dana White did not seem to be a fan of the idea though and shot it down, claiming that Nunes needed to defend her current title first against more opposition before jumping around weight divisions. He even added that he was at first reluctant of starting the women's featherweight division in his promotion, citing it as bad luck after original title contender Cristiane Justino was suspended indefinitely for failing a drugs test. "This whole time, I didn't want to do it," White told MMA Junkie.
The UFC seems to already have an opponent scheduled for Nunes' second bantamweight title defense in the form of Valentina Shevchenko, according to Fox Sports. Both fighters have squared off against one another before with Nunes picking up the unanimous decision nod. However, Shevchenko has bounced back in an impressive manner, winning by decision against former bantamweight champion Holm and submitting fellow title contender Julianna Pena in her last two fights.
White has spoke well about the prospect of Nunes taking on Shevchenko once more. He described the latter as a well-rounded fighter after she showed of her underrated submission skills against Pena. He further described the potential contest as a fun fight, which would be a good test of the current champion's mixed martial arts skills.
Aside from White talking highly about a Nunes vs. Shevchenko fight, both fighters involved have already begun a war of wards, basically confirming that the fight will take place in the near future. The champion has stated that she intended to finish off her challenger this time around. Shevchenko then countered by saying that Nunes should be careful of the words she let go because they may come back to her.
Watch White give his thoughts on Nunes' potential move to featherweight in the video below: