UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier wants to see women’s MMA highlighted to cap off 2025.
Cormier pitched two big title fights for December’s pay-per-view card, which is projected to be UFC 322. Cormier hopes to see Amanda Nunes return to challenge UFC bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison in the main event, as well as the long-awaited superfight between strawweight champion Zhang Weili and flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko.
“What about end of the year card, Amanda-Kayla, Weili-Valentina, Josh Van-Pantoja in the co-main event?” Cormier suggested on “Good Guy/Bad Guy” with Chael Sonnen. “Josh Van’s young, that’s the type of guy that will turn around quick. And Pantoja? Pantoja has been putting it on dudes lately. So I think Van-Pantoja (November), because I think that we should go all female in December to end the year.”
Nunes (11-6 MMA, 8-4 UFC) faced off with Harrison (19-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) after the two-time Olympic gold medalist scored a dominant submission of Julianna Peña to claim the bantamweight title at UFC 316 in June. Meanwhile, Weili and Shevchenko continue to show an openness on making a potential superfight happen, with UFC CEO Dana White on board.
Shevchenko (25-4-1 MMA, 14-3-1 UFC) is coming off a title defense over Manon Fiorot at UFC 315 in May, whereas Weili (26-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) handed Tatiana Suarez her first-career loss to notch her third title defense at UFC 312 in February.