Amanda who?

Amanda Nunes has beaten two of MMA’s biggest names. Yet, if you ask the average person or even some fight fans, they have no idea who she is.

Amanda Nunes did fly under the radar for a while as she was working her way up through the ranks. This was partly due to the fact she was working her way up during Ronda Rousey’s reign; the era of Rousey. Even before Rousey had her first loss, Nunes was considered a very bad match for her stylistically. Rousey was very good with takedowns and armbars (most of her opponents had lost via armbar in the first round). To this potential fight, Nunes brought with her good striking and a lot of skill on the ground, holding a black belt in BJJ. In theory, this meant that Rousey would have a tough time closing the distance to take her down, and if this situation eventuated, Rousey would struggle to control Nunes on the ground.

I am not sure if the UFC suggested Holly Holm as an opponent to Rousey’s team or if Rousey’s team suggested Holm to the UFC, either way, Rousey v Holm was matched. On paper, in a classic striker v grappler match up, if it stayed standing, Holm wins and if it went to the ground, Rousey wins. I assume both the UFC and Rousey thought this would be a safe match for Rousey, and she would take Holm down and armbar her. However, in the fight we got to see Rousey in trouble for the first time in her career. Holm would allow Rousey to just get in range, then punch and move, Holm’s footwork was the key to victory as Rousey could not get near her while taking punches as her striking ability was well below Holm’s. Then in round two, Holm landed the head kick and gave Rousey her first loss. After much crying and looking like a poor loser, Rousey got back in the ring about a year later, this time against Nunes. To me, this was a very dangerous comeback fight due to the stylistic match-up mentioned earlier. From the second the fight was announced, Nunes said she would win and did not waver in her belief. She believed she would beat and possibly finish Rousey; Nunes brought nothing but 100% confidence in her abilities to this fight. She was confident during the entire fight build up and when she stepped in the cage the belief was there. Rousey tried to close the distance for the takedown and Nunes just started punching her in the face at will, and 50 odd seconds later the fight was over. That would be the last time Rousey would fight in MMA, Nunes put the “most dangerous woman in the world” away in 50 seconds.

(Sorry about quality)

The next big name Nunes was to scratch off the list was Cyborg. Cris Cyborg had not lost in ten years and had demolished all in her path, she would literally walk through her opponents punches and knock them out. Cyborg is without doubt one of the scariest fighters in MMA history (male or female). To make what happened in this fight even scarier, Nunes was moving up a weight division to fight her (bantamweight to featherweight). Again, in the build-up, Nunes was 100% confident and said she would knock Cyborg out. When the fight came around, Nunes showed no signs of ‘respect’ in the Octagon. Nunes came right out at Cyborg and attacked her head, which is usually suicide against Cyborg as this is where she flourishes, managing to walk through punches and KO her opponents. They were both trying to destroy each other, but Nunes landed the punches and gave Cyborg a massive over-hand right to end her night in just under a minute.

At the conclusion of this fight, Nunes had beaten two of the biggest names in MMA history. She is also the first woman to be a multi-division champion in the UFC (bantamweight and featherweight). Even with the best CV in women’s MMA at the moment, her name is not well known. What is the reason for this? Is it because she is not American? I don’t think this is the case as some of the biggest names have come out of other countries (Anderson Silva -Brazil, Conor McGregor- Ireland). What is it that makes the UFC push one fighter more than another? Let’s use Stipe Miocic as an example. Miocic was the heavyweight champ but it just never seemed like the UFC were behind him and there was no good reason as to why. With Nunes, she is gay and not the dolled up looking fighter stereotype the UFC seem to like, is this what the UFC want? They pushed Rousey like you wouldn’t believe and they tried to name Holly Holm ‘Hot’ Holly Holm. She didn’t want a bar of it and called herself the ‘preacher’s daughter’. Do the UFC feel they need a certain look for the champions? Nunes has everything you could want in the cage, she is highly skilled and goes for the kill producing exciting fights. Or do the champions need to be ‘more’ outside the cage? Do the UFC want all champions to be like Connor McGregor and be able to talk the talk? As a fan I get frustrated as the best fighters seem to be looked over for either people who are better at talking or people who are better looking. The UFC wanted Francis Ngannou to beat Miocic as he was a ‘marketing dream’. Right now, the champions in the UFC are all amazing fighters but do not have the draw that the names of few years ago had (Silva, GSP, Rousey, McGregor).

It seems the UFC are trying to create a formula for a successful fighter and anyone who does not fit the mould does not get the UFC machine behind them. This is crap and it shows the up-and-coming fighters that they need to be more like WWE wrestlers than just a good fighter. Conor McGregor did a lot to change this and I realise the $$ that he made for the UFC, but a dangerous fighter should always be easy to market for a championship belt regardless of how they look or how good their trash talk is (Khabib Nurmagomedov). Nunes will go down as one of the greatest female UFC fighters of all time and I hope she gets her dues while she is still fighting.

Gareth Lewis
Head MMA Instructor