As female bantamweight champion, Amanda Nunes, is making her final preparations to take on Valentina Shevchenko for the second time. She revealed to Combate that there is no pressure coming in to the fight, even though she is the last Brazilian with a UFC title for the time being.

“I’m always under some kind of pressure. At UFC 200 it was me being in the main event out of nowhere. UFC 207, against Ronda (Rousey), was all sorts of crazy. All this pressure coming from me being the only Brazilian with a belt only gives me more strength to hold on to it and remain the champion forever. There’s nothing Valentina can do to take the belt from me. I’m going to leave it all in the Octagon. I will be victorious. I’m very well prepared, physically and mentally. Nobody will take the belt from me. I’m ready for anything.”

Having already defeated Shevchenko once before, in 2016, Amanda feels she’s even more prepared for the rematch, having closed the previous gaps she had during the first encounter.

“She has two wins, but she hasn’t changed anything. She’s still the same athlete, but she’s tough. Anything can happen in MMA, you can’t make mistakes, you have to pay attention to everything. I’m expecting her to come out strong and I’ll be strong to defend the belt. I’m more mature since the first fight. My confidence is twice as big since then. I’m the champion, I used to be nobody. I was looking for a place in the sun and now I’m the champion. I need to remain the champion and that’s what’s happening.”

Amanda Nunes is expected to meet Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 213, on July 8, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Middleweights Robert Whittaker and Yoel Romero will also fight for the interim middleweight belt in the co-main event.