With a perfect 2016, Amanda Nunes was declared the "Best female fighter of the year" at last Friday's MMA Awards in Las Vegas. After three wins on events that each broke the one-million-dollar pay-per-view mark, the Brazilian closed the year with a blistering knockout over superstar Ronda Rousey in her first defense of the UFC bantamweight belt. Initial plans of moving up to the league's newly introduced featherweight class, though, were quickly nixed in an exclusive interview with FloCombat via AG. Fight.

Currently on vacation in Brazil, where Nunes relishes the opportunity to visit family and friends in addition to fulfilling UFC media duties to promote Saturday's UFC show in Fortaleza, "The Lioness" is already making plans for 2017. Those include more defenses of the 135-pound belt but no attack on the 145-pound strap which, according to Nunes, now again belongs to her compatriot Cris "Cyborg" Santos."I do not intend to fight with Cris", Nunes stated. "But my intention was to fight [Holly Holm or Germaine de Randamie], who were in my category, but Cris is coming back now and I'm not interested in going up. I want to see her as the champion. To fight with her, I would have to gain weight and gain muscle. I am at 135 pounds. To do such a job (at 145), I would need at least a year."The UFC's featherweight class seems to be where "Cyborg" is heading now, anyway, with Nunes staying at 135 pounds. Her own foray into heavier grounds came when Justino failed a drug test and was potentially facing a lenghty suspension, Nunes said. Now that "Cyborg", who USADA says didn't fail the test through fault of her own, was only hit by a much shorter ban, Nunes plans to leave 145 pounds to her compatriot."That's what I said: 'This category is for Cris, but then she tested positive'", Nunes recalled. "But then, two girls from the 135-pound class moved up, one was coming off two defeats and the other was not in the rankings. The champion [Germaine de Randamie] is a girl that I have already defeated. I asked to go up because I can be champion in two categories. My point of view was that they were two athletes from my category and that Cris was not in the game at the time."With a rematch against Valentina Shevchenko, whom Nunes defeated via decision last March, all but set, the Brazilian might already be running out of fresh challengers, judging by the division's current rankings.After Shevchenko, Ronda Rousey, Julianna Pena, Holly Holm and Cat Zingano are names that would be in the mix but that have lost their last fight(s). Additionally, there are Racquel Pennington and Sarah McMann looming in the background, but those names would generate little interest in the public eye.Furthermore, McMann, who just earned a big win at UFC Halifax last month, was knocked out by Nunes in the first round when they crossed paths in the octagon in 2015."I don't know, I would need to keep an eye on how McMann is coming along", Nunes said. "I beat her, but now she has three wins in a row, so if they put her in another fight and she wins, she could (get a title shot). The UFC now wants to put her against Valentina to see who fights with me. They can do whatever they want and we do not even know what happens", Nunes finished with a laugh.