There are only a few fights that fans of the UFC believe absolutely must happen at some point in the near future, and one of those bouts is a women's super clash between featherweight champion Cris Cyborg and bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes. But as time goes on, it seems there's a delay in making the fight happen in some form or fashion, and one of the women involved seems to be at the end of her rope. Let's have a look at this as well as some of the other UFC news making the rounds for Friday, March 16. 

Cyborg sets a deadline for Nunes

The women's featherweight champion seems to be the one growing impatient as the fight fails to become set in stone. In the wake of the announcement that Nunes' next fight will take place on the UFC 224 card in Brazil on May 12 against Raquel Pennington, Cyborg released a lengthy statement to MMA Fighting in which she specifically stated that should Nunes not accept a fight on the UFC 226 on July 7 card in Las Vegas during International Fight Week, then she will not invest anymore of her energy in trying to make the fight happen. Furthermore, Cyborg then went on to explain that if Nunes changes her mind and absolutely wants the superfight to go down, then she will have to place herself in the featherweight division to prove herself before she receives a title shot. 

Seeing as there was a period of time where Nunes was the one heavily clamoring for this showdown, you can see where Cyborg's frustrations come from. At one point, Nunes was very adamant about stepping into the Octagon with the polarizing Cyborg, and then that vigor just disappeared. To that point, Cyborg believes this was a tactic used by Nunes simply to receive a better deal from the UFC, which is a theory that does make sense, to a degree. 

With Nunes defending her title against Pennington in May, there is a good chance this fight does not take place by self-imposed the deadline. But, don't get too depressed about maybe never seeing it happen because we all know that when it comes to the fight game, the right money can make anything happen. 

More UFC news, rumors

  • The UFC announced on Friday that the promotion will be heading in Liverpool, England, for a card on May 27. The main event will feature Liverpool's own Darren Till against an opponent that has yet to be named. Till, currently the No. 7-ranked welterweight in the division, is coming off an impressive first-round TKO win over Donald Cerrone in October 2017 at UFC Fight Night 118. 
  • Would you like to see heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua square off with some of the UFC's best? Well, so would he, apparently. In a recent interview with Sky Sports, Joshua, who defends his titles on March 31 against Joseph Parker, noted that he wouldn't mind mixing it up with a fellow power puncher in Francis Ngannou or even Jon "Bones" Jones: "A fight's a fight at the end of the day, so yeah man, I'd do it." Joshua said. "A good scrap would be that guy from Congo [Francis Ngannou], he just lost recently. Then you got Jon Jones, that would be a good scrap."
  • While it hasn't been officially announced yet, it seems as if CM Punk will be making his second appearance in the Octagon at UFC 225 in his hometown of Chicago on June 9. If he does, he may look like a vastly improved fighter -- at least according to his trainer, Duke Roufus. Speaking to Luke Thomas on Sirius XM Rush, Roufus revealed that not only has the former WWE champion improved from his quick loss to Mickey Gall at UFC 203 in September 2016, but he's "200 percent" better in the nearly two years since. That's probably not believable, but hey, they have to sell him to the masses somehow if he is going to step into that cage again. 
  • We won't have to wait long to see Mackenzie Dern make her second appearance on a UFC card. After earning a unanimous decision win at UFC 222 in her debut fight for the promotion against Ashley Yoder, the undefeated Dern has been added to the UFC 224 card in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she will look to remain undefeated when she takes on Amanda Cooper.