Shevchenko: ‘I don’t care’ if Amanda Nunes retires before trilogy bout

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

 ”I don’t care what she does. For me, my goal is to defend my belt at 125 (pounds) as much as I can.”

Valentina Shevchenko and Amanda Nunes almost seem destined to face each other in a trilogy bout, but after Nunes’ recent comments about retirement, Shevchenko isn’t sure they will meet in the Octagon again.

Shevchenko is 0-2 against Nunes at bantamweight, but since then, the 32-year-old has gone on to capture the UFC women’s flyweight title and defend her championship three times. Nunes, too, has gone on to defend her bantamweight multiple times as well capture the women’s featherweight title to become the first female two-division champ in UFC history.

Shevchenko would ideally like to run things back with Nunes but the reigning women’s flyweight champion is okay with ‘The Lioness’ retiring before a trilogy bout.

“It’s totally her personal preference of what she’s going to do, what she wants to do,” Shevchenko told Nick Baldwin of theScore in a recent interview. “I don’t care what she does. For me, my goal is to defend my belt at 125 (pounds) as much as I can. If our paths cross in the future sometime, definitely it’s going to be a firefight. ... But she is the last person that I think about in the world.”

Shevchenko is currently sidelined with a knee injury but ‘Bullet’ expects to return to face Joanne Calderwood — who she was originally set to face in June — by the end of 2020.

“We are not 100% ready for training camp,” Shevchenko said. “I don’t want to rush, because it was surgery and it’s very important for it to heal all the way.

“Of course I want to get back. Of course when I see fighting happening, and when I see ‘Fight Island’ and everyone posting their pictures there, I want to be there, I want to feel it, I want to feel the smell of the Octagon. ... But I understand that I can’t right now. I’m trying not to think too much about it, because of course you’re going to be upset about what you cannot do.”