Amanda Nunes: A Lioness on the prowl
Amanda Nunes might not be a pay-per-view draw like a Conor McGregor or Ronda Rousey, but she has built an aura of invincibility around herself like none before.
No one has accomplished what she has done by dominating two weight divisions simultaneously, and where her victory seems almost inevitable. Not even the likes of George Saint-Pierre, Anderson Silva, and Jon Jones have enjoyed such domination at two weight classes, which speak volumes about the magnitude of Amanda Nunes’ achievements.
Her fight against Cris Cyborg was the only time where she seemed in any kind of danger against an opponent who was long considered as the GOAT of women’s MMA. She came out unscathed and almost untouched in that fight as she finished Cyborg inside just 51 seconds emphatically to become the only female double champion in the UFC.
Amanda Nunes has already built herself into the greatest women we have ever seen inside the octagon. She also remains just two fights away from tying Rousey’s record for most title defenses at bantamweight with four.
So what’s left for the Brazilian to accomplish after defeating everyone put in front of her by the UFC?
Well, Nunes can start by becoming the record holder in title defenses in both of her divisions. She finds herself just 2 short of Rousey’s record at bantamweight as mentioned before while Cyborg only had two title defenses in her name before their meeting at UFC 232. Amanda could become the only person in UFC’s history to hold title defenses record in two weight classes if she achieves this feat, which is extraordinary. She will have to be game ready though when she defends her featherweight title for the first time against Felicia Spencer this weekend at UFC 250.
Spencer stood out as the most impressive fighter to face Cyborg apart from Nunes herself in the UFC and will pose a challenge despite being a huge underdog on paper. But we should consider Amanda as a favorite as she has always improved in each of her fights drastically as a champion. While De Randamie threatened Nunes in the stand-up in her last fight, she took her down repeatedly to mark what was an unconvincing victory by her standards. Her fight against Holly Holm at UFC 239 saw Nunes finish her with a head kick in the last minute of round 1.
That finishing sequence, unfortunately for Holm, eerily resembled her finish against Ronda at UFC 193 as Nunes beat her at her own game. Nunes’ nickname “Lioness” is an apt way to describe her insatiable will for victory; a ferocious and unstoppable force, once she has her prey in sight.