Shevchenko: 'I don't care' if Nunes retires before completing trilogy

UFC champion Valentina Shevchenko has nothing but the women's flyweight division on her mind.

Shevchenko said Friday she wouldn't be disappointed if fellow titleholder Amanda Nunes stepped away from mixed martial arts before a potential trilogy bout. Nunes, the women's bantamweight and featherweight champion, hinted after a June win over Felicia Spencer that she's considering retirement.

"It's totally her personal preference of what she's going to do, what she wants to do," Shevchenko told theScore. "I don't care what she does. For me, my goal is to defend my belt at 125 (pounds) as much as I can. If our paths cross in the future sometime, definitely it's going to be a firefight. ... But she is the last person that I think about in the world."

Shevchenko has fought Nunes twice - in 2016 and 2017 - as a bantamweight. Nunes earned a unanimous decision in their first meeting - which wasn't for a belt - and then retained her 135-pound title via split decision in their second bout.

Since then, a trilogy fight has seemed inevitable. Nunes has racked up several title defenses en route to being widely considered the greatest women's fighter of all time. Meanwhile, Shevchenko dropped to flyweight and won the vacant title while also becoming one of the promotion's most dominant champions.

"Bullet" was scheduled to defend her belt for the fourth time against Joanne Calderwood in June, but she withdrew from the contest. The 32-year-old said she suffered a partial MCL tear during her win over Katlyn Chookagian in February and fully tore it afterward while training. She underwent surgery at the end of March.

Shevchenko said her knee hasn't fully recovered, but insisted it's "way better" than before. The champion is slowly getting back into the gym but has not yet returned to full training.

"We are not 100% ready for training camp," Shevchenko said. "I don't want to rush, because it was surgery and it's very important for it to heal all the way."

Shevchenko said she plans to return to the Octagon against Calderwood by the end of 2020. She originally thought she'd be able to fight again in August but said she underestimated how long the recovery would take because it was her first-ever surgery.

"Of course I want to get back," Shevchenko said. "Of course when I see fighting happening, and when I see 'Fight Island' and everyone posting their pictures there, I want to be there, I want to feel it, I want to feel the smell of the Octagon. ... But I understand that I can't right now. I'm trying not to think too much about it, because of course you're going to be upset about what you cannot do."