UFC 224’s Amanda Nunes all for fighting fellow Brazilians - ‘No one complained about Ronda Rousey vs Holly Holm!’

After initial reluctance, Cris Cyborg finally opened up to the possibility of facing current Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women’s Bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes who, like Cris, is Brazilian.

Cyborg showed hesitance after the challenge citing that she preferred to face someone in her true weight class and someone who didn’t hail from Brazil. It’s an idea that baffled Nunes, who doesn’t understand why her fellow female Brazilian female fighters are so opposed to facing one another.

“Holly fought Ronda, Miesha fight Holly, and nobody say that? I don’t understand why the Brazilian girls have to be like that,” proclaimed Amanda during a recent interview on UFC Unfiltered podcast.

“This is a sport and this is a profession. I don’t have anything against her and I don’t want to fight her just because she is Brazilian. It’s to be the best. She is the best and I am the best in my division. It’s only about that and nothing more. It’s nothing personal, she’s been doing great and is the best in her division and has been on top for a while and I respect that.”

Nunes recently drew the ire of Jessica Andrade after she noticed “Lioness” cageside rooting for Tecia Torres at UFC on FOX 28 during their scrap in Orlando, Florida, and proceeded to blast the 135-pound champion for challenging Cyborg.

While Amanda doesn’t have to defend her support for Torres, the two did spend time as training partners at American Top Team (ATT) and undoubtedly developed a friendship with one another.

It’s not just the women, as there have been a select few male Brazilian MMA stars such as Anderson Silva who has long preferred to face someone other than his fellow countrymen. Of course, he didn’t have an issue knocking Vitor Belfort’s block off for talking smack at UFC 126.

Still, if Nunes wants her much-desired Featherweight title fight against Cris, she has to first defeat Raquel Pennington -- who is keen on playing spoiler — at UFC 224 on May 12, 2018 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.