Getty Israel Adesanya attends UFC 277.
UFC star Israel Adesanya would like to see a third fight between Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko.
Reigning UFC two-division champion Nunes shared a heated rivalry with the flyweight queen inside the cage. They competed against each other twice, with Nunes coming out on top of both contests. While the first outing was a decisive win for “Lioness,” the second one was a razor-thin split decision victory.
Calls for the trilogy bout started picking momentum after Nunes’ historic win over the former bantamweight title holder Julianna Pena in their rematch at UFC 277. After falling short in their first encounter, Nunes made the necessary adjustments and dominated Pena for a record-breaking lopsided unanimous decision.
In a recent video uploaded to his YouTube channel, UFC middleweight champion Adesanya sat down with Dan Hooker to discuss their dream match-ups in the promotion. “Stylebender” would personally like to see Shevchenko have at it against Nunes for a third time.
“I’m going to go Shevchenko, I want to see her fight Amanda (Nunes) again,” Adesanya said. “I feel like that would be, I thought she had her the second time. Yeah, I thought she did. I think third time’s the charm. I like Shevchenko.”
Dana White Is Open to Nunes vs. Shevchenko 3
Trilogy bouts are not a common occurence at the highest level in mixed martial arts. There needs to be genuine interest from the fans along with both fighters needing to accomplish great things. Fortunately, Nunes and Shevchenko fit the bill.
During the UFC 277 post-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White expressed his interest in making the showdown happen.
“Yeah, that’s not a bad idea,” White said (ht MMA Junkie). “Normally, I would say, ‘Come on, man.’ That’s not a bad idea, I mean, when you really think about it. I’m not saying yes. I’m just saying it’s not a bad idea.”
“Very (likely),” White said of that possibility. “I mean, we’ll figure it out. She’s the double-champ. I love the kid. I have a great relationship with her. She’s been amazing to work with and I’ll do whatever she wants to do.”
Nunes responded to Shevchenko’s comments after UFC 277
Shevchenko passed a cheeky comment about Nunes after her win at UFC 277. “Bullet” found her new gameplan interesting and drew similarities to her own fighting style, tweeting: “Looks like Amanda decide to fully copy my stand up game Great fight both ladies! #UFC 277.”
Looks like Amanda decide to fully copy my stand up game 🤔
Great fight both ladies! 💪🏻 #UFC277
Following the main event, Nunes fired back at Shevchenko during the post-fight media scrum. She claimed that Shevchenko would have lost her latest outing against Taila Santos had it not been for an accidental clash of heads that broke Santos’ orbital bone in the third round.
“That’s funny,” Nunes said (ht CBS Sports). “She has to put out there something to stand out, because right now, as a champion, Valentina, she lost her last fight. I really think if Taila doesn’t get that headbutt, that fight could have been way different.”
“Good. She’s a champion too,” Nunes said of the possibility. “That would be awesome.”