LAS VEGAS – From all indications Yana Kunitskaya isn’t intimidated by the untouchable aura Cris Cyborg has gained from more than 12 years of dominance inside the cage.

Kunitskaya (10-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC) believes she has a great chance at dethroning UFC women’s featherweight champion Cyborg (19-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 222 headliner, which takes place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

The fact Kunitskaya is a massive underdog has allowed an opportunity to prepare with little expectation and focus all her energy exposing some of the flaws she’s seen in the champion’s game.

“I don’t feel any pressure,” Kunitskaya told MMAjunkie. “Everyone has weaknesses, and her last fight with Holly (Holm), it was five rounds, and it showed a lot. I was getting ready for everything and find holes everywhere – in stand-up and the ground in wrestling. I’m trying to get ready for everything.”

The matchup between Kunitskaya and Cyborg came together on short notice. UFC 222 originally was headlined by a featherweight title fight between Max Holloway and Frankie Edgar, but when Holloway withdrew due to injury less than a month out, the organization was forced to scramble for a new main event.

Cyborg was the only champion available and willing to step up, and with need for an opponent, Kunitskaya, the Invicta FC bantamweight champ, got the call to challenge for the UFC gold in her promotional debut. On the surface that seems like an overwhelming development, but Kunitskaya said she’s calmed by the intuition a Cyborg fight was going to materialize at some point in her career.

“Since she started fighting in Strikeforce (I’ve been thinking about it),” Kunitskaya said. “I wanted to fight in Strikeforce, but I couldn’t get a visa, an American visa. After she was fighting in Invicta and then in UFC. All my career I was thinking about this; one day I would fight her. I’m happy this is happening in big show in the UFC, and it’s a good chance for me.”

What brings Kunitskaya even more comfort, she said, is that she was planning to fight on the UFC 222 card anyway before the deck was shuffled. The UFC hadn’t officially announced the bout, but she was scheduled to fight another opponent in what would have been the first non-title women’s featherweight fight in the UFC. She said she was training hard regardless, but when the situation changed, it just brought even more motivation.

“I was in my camp for a couple months and was getting ready, and the UFC kept changing everything for me,” Kunitskaya said. “Dates, weight class, girls. So I was just training very hard and was ready for any moment. Three weeks before they told me Cris Cyborg, so I was excited and kept training hard.”

The UFC has often been criticized for booking Cyborg against opponents who typically compete in the women’s bantamweight division. Kunitskaya may be a champion at 135 pounds, but she started her career at featherweight and said she would even be comfortable at lightweight if the opportunity arose.

Because she’s usually fighting smaller opponents, Cyborg is able to bully her foes with size and strength. Kunitskaya doesn’t foresee herself having those problems, nor does she think Cyborg’s power – particularly in the striking department – is all it’s cracked up to be.

“I know that she’s strong, but I don’t think she has that strong of knockout power,” Kunitskaya said. “She has no clean knockouts where girls go down, like Holly (Holm) have. But yes, she’s very tough. She finishes all the fights by technical knockout. I think I’m strong, too, strong enough to compare with her.”

For Kunitskaya, UFC 222 represents a no-lose situation. She’s already expected to be bludgeoned by the Brazilian champion but looks forward to producing a historic upset. Kunitskaya said she relishes the chance to become the first female UFC champion from Russia, but even more than that, she can’t wait to shock the world.

“It’s amazing to be a UFC champion, and it’s a lot of things,” Kunitskaya said. “First time (in the octagon), first Russian girl to be fighting for a belt, and first genuine Russian who won the title. But for me, it’s more important that I can win against Cris Cyborg. It’s more exciting.”

To hear more from Kunitskaya, watch the video above.

And for more on UFC 222, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.