UFC legend pitches ‘all-female’ PPV to end 2025 with Amanda Nunes comeback and champ vs champ super fight

Daniel Cormier pitches PPV headlined by Kayla Harrison vs Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko vs. Zhang Weili

During a recent episode of the Good Guy/Bad Guy show on ESPN MMA’s YouTube channel, Cormier reacted to Khabib’s leak for Della Maddalena vs Makhachev alongside fellow former fighter Chael Sonnen.

The pair discussed potential co-main events for the card, and ‘DC’ landed on flyweight king Alexandre Pantoja’s expected defense against Joshua Van.

In turn, that would free up the year’s final pay-per-view for an all-female title fight lineup, with Amanda Nunes challenging Kayla Harrison in the bantamweight main event and a highly anticipated super fight between flyweight queen Valentina Shevchenko and strawweight champion Zhang Weili co-headlining.

“What about end of the year card, Amanda-Kayla, Weili-Valentina, Josh Van-Pantoja in the (UFC 322) co-main event?” Cormier pitched.

“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 (in November), because I think that we should go all-female in December to end the year,” Cormier added.

The stage was set for Nunes’ comeback after Harrison submitted Julianna Pena at UFC 316 this past June. After months of return talk, the Brazilian legend committed to coming out of retirement by facing off with her victorious ex-teammate inside the Octagon in Newark.

Should that fight come with a co-main event between Shevchenko and Weili, it would mark only the second PPV in UFC history to be headlined by two women’s fights. The first was UFC 193 in 2015, which saw Joanna Jedrzejczyk’s strawweight defense against Valerie Letourneau set the stage for Holly Holm’s title-winning performance against Ronda Rousey.

Zhang Weili called Valentina Shevchenko out for champ vs champ super fight

Like Cormier, many expect the next assignments for Shevchenko and Zhang to come against one another instead of contenders within their own divisions.

Talk of the super fight was first sparked after Shevchenko defeated Manon Fiorot at UFC 315 this past May to successfully defend the flyweight belt for the first time since she reclaimed it in September 2024.

Soon after, Zhang called Shevchenko out for a super fight, as the Chinese star looks to secure her shot at joining Nunes as only the second woman in UFC history to hold two titles.

“Congratulations to the champion,” Zhang wrote in an Instagram comment.

“Everything has lined up perfectly, it’s destiny,” she added, alluding to a flyweight move in pursuit of a second title.