IRVINE, Calif. – The dance of contract negotiation continues between the UFC and Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos, said her manager, UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz.

Ortiz is adamant the ex-Strikeforce champ should get a tuneup fight within the next two to three months before taking on her rival, UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey.

“She hasn’t fought in almost a year and a half,” Ortiz told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) on Thursday while at Bellator 85. “I want her to get warmed up and comfortable in the UFC.”

Santos (10-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) won’t do a trial cut and instead will go straight for 135 pounds, Ortiz said.

“She’s kind of bummed out about it because of the respect that’s not been shown to her,” he said. “She’s a world champion. She’s defended her title more times than Ronda Rousey has ever fought, and she doesn’t get respect. She’s kind of in the same shoes that I am.

“She said to me, ‘When I became champion, nothing in my life has changed. Financially, it hasn’t changed.’ So as a manager, I’m going to make sure her life is changed.”

Santos, of course, is no longer champion. She was stripped of her belt when suspended for steroid use following her most recent fight, which came in December 2011. Appealing her suspension, she blamed her coaching staff for plying her with a banned substance and denied steroid use.

Ortiz still believes a tuneup fight is only fair given Rousey (6-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) got an upcoming headliner with Liz Carmouche (7-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) at UFC 157, which takes place Feb. 23 at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. He dismissed Carmouche as a warmup opponent and said, “No one knows who she is. No one has ever seen her fight before.”

“ got a tuneup fight, and she’s in the main event,” he said. “So I think ‘Cyborg’ deserves a tuneup fight.”

This past month, the UFC’s Portuguese-language website linked Santos to the Feb. 23 pay-per-view event opposite Rousey, who this past month traded her Strikeforce belt for the first-ever UFC women’s bantamweight strap. Officials quickly shot down the fight and called the announcement a “posting error.” Santos, however, confirmed talks with the promotion and said she could make 135 pounds with the proper amount of time.

Ortiz sounded cautiously optimistic about the UFC’s current solution to Santos’ weight concerns, which involves hiring renowned nutrition consultant Mike Dolce to supervise her weight cut.

“I really need to sit down with her,” Ortiz said. “I sat down with her on the business side of it, but not really as a trainer, to see if I could really get her down to it. She walks around at 170 (pounds). That’s almost 35 pounds (to cut). To get down that low, so quick – she’s never fought at that weight. She’s shredded at 145.”

(George Garcia and Brian Garcia contributed to this report.)