Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting reported today that Cris Cyborg will defend her UFC Welterweight Championship against Yana Kunitskaya at UFC 222 Mar. 3 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. There's a lot of mishugas to go through to get to this fight. UFC President Dana White said after Cyborg's last fight that he wanted her to face UFC Bantamweight Champion Amanda Nunes in a superfight. Cyborg didn't want to do it at first. I've heard plenty of theories about why but she doesn't want to fight another Brazilian. Eventually she announced that she would fight Amanda in July during International Fight Week claiming they could make the most money there. I thought that the UFC would want her to fight sooner than that. Meanwhile Invicta Bantamweight Champ Yana Kunitskaya was to make her UFC debut vs Sara Mcmann on Feb. 24. This is where it gets complicated. Marion Reneau was supposed to fight Tanya Evinger on Feb. 18. After Tanya pulled out due to injury, Marion was moved to Feb. 24 to face Sara. What will they do with Yana? When Max Holloway dropped out of the main event of UFC 222, they needed a new title fight or the show might have been cancelled. So now we have a title fight. I can't tell you why Yana and not Amanda. It's probably a timing issue. A lot of fans may not be aware that Yana started her career as a Welterweight. All her Invicta fights were at Bantamweight. But after her latest fight, the California State Athletic Commission suggested she should move back to 145. She's the same height as Cyborg but she isn't as muscular. This is her UFC debut but Yana has been fighting for ten years. That doesn't mean she can beat Cyborg. I don't think she's that good. But she is a legit Welterweight who chose to fight at Bantamweight. So there you have it. This fight was born out of UFC desperation to save UFC 222.
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