Getty Jorge Masvidal and The Rock with the UFC's "BMF" belt.
Former middleweight champion Michael Bisping recently made the case for the UFC to put on a “BMF” title fight between two-division queen Amanda Nunes and 125-pound champion Valentina Shevchenko.
Nunes and Shevchenko are widely regarded as the two great female fighters of all time, with “Bullet” holding the No. 1 pound-for-pound spot and Nunes sitting at No. 2, per the official UFC standings.
“Lioness” recaptured her 135-pound strap on Saturday night at UFC 277 when she avenged her December rear-naked choke loss to Julianna Pena, defeating Pena via unanimous decision. After the win, UFC president Dana White shared his interest in booking a trilogy bout between Nunes, who also wears the featherweight crown, and Shevchenko next.
They met at UFC 196 and UFC 215 in March 2016 and September 2017, respectively. As history has it, Nunes won both fights, beating Bullet via unanimous decision and then split decision. Both fights were razor-close, however, with many MMA fans and pundits scoring the second bout for Shevchenko in particular.
Well, Bisping said in a recent video on his YouTube channel that he’d like to see a third clash between the two. And he’d like to see another ceremonial “Baddest Motherf*****” belt introduced for it.
“I would love to see [a third fight],” Bisping said via Middle Easy. “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.”
Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz competed for the BMF belt at UFC 244 in November 2019. Masvidal won the title by doctor’s stoppage after the third round. It was the one and only time the UFC had put the BMF belt on the line.
Bisping Also Thinks the UFC Should Schedule a Rubber Match Between Nunes & Pena
At UFC 269 in December, Pena ended Nunes’ 12-fight win streak via second-round submission. And in Dallas, Texas last weekend, the Lioness put on a dominant performance to take back her strap (5-45, 50-44, 50-43).
Regardless of how dominant Nunes was at UFC 277, Bisping said in the same video that the promotion should schedule a rubber match between the two to settle the score.
“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.”
Pena took to Instagram on Sunday and called for a third fight with Nunes.
“Tougher than a two dollar steak,” she wrote. “Thanks for the love everyone! Just a cat scratch that required a few stitches, no chunks missing, no surgery necessary. Love you all! We’re 1-1 now #peopleschamp #trilogy #penavsnunes3 #lfg.”