Amanda Nunes has become a force to be reckoned with in the world’s biggest MMA organization. ‘The Lioness’ currently is the UFC women’s featherweight and two-time bantamweight champion. After her meteoric rise to the top of women’s rankings, fans started regarding Nunes as the greatest women’s MMA fighter of all time.
Reminder that Amanda Nunes’ current double champ status is fraudulent pic.twitter.com/hCWCSWZSH4
— Super Fan🇮🇪 (@McGregorRousey) June 5, 2023
Aside from being considered the women’s GOAT, the 35-year-old also remains the first woman to become a two-division UFC champion. At the same time, she is also the third fighter to hold UFC belts simultaneously, only after Conor McGregor and Daniel Cormier. And if that wasn’t enough, the Brazilian is the only fighter to defend both her title while holding them at the same time.
It did 900 k vs Izzy doing 800k. But had multiple names on the card that are actually draws. The second biggest name on 259 was Amanda Nunes, who’s literally the worst selling champ of all time
— nat (@natantekle1) August 20, 2022
Ever since getting a hold of the bantamweight gold at first, Amanda ran through the division like nobody’s business, for lack of a better word. In her decorated career, she attained wins over notable athletes like Ronda Rousey, Cris Cyborg, Holly Holm, Miesha Tate, Valentina Shevchenko, etc.
However, despite her proved in-cage greatness, fans and critics have seemingly given a lot of flak to the Pojuca native. And the eye-opening part is, Nunes might not even be at fault for it. Being the well-rounded fighter that she is, Amanda has demolished most, if not all of her opponents in the early rounds of their respective fights.
The 3 worst Ufc ppv selling cards Ufc 250, Ufc 224 and 215
Guess who headlined all theese cards, yes Amanda nunes, so why tf does She Get ppv every 6 months🤡🤡🤡— juiceman and gynosanya, chase hoopers favorite fan (@sugashowbaby2) June 6, 2023
This has led to an efflux of fighters, more so in the featherweight division, one that has remained stale for quite some time now. While it may very well not be Nunes’ fault for having little to no weakness in her game, a lack of eye-grabbing matches has resulted in her stock crashing low, from what it appears from the outside. Her inability to sell PPVs hasn’t seemed to help her case as well.
Dana talks like he’s speaking to a bunch of toddlers. Is he not aware that google exists?
UFC 215, 224, 250
3 of the lowest selling PPV’s in modern UFC history, all headlined by Amanda Nunes
Nunes is the worst selling long term champion ever. This rematch will do shit numbers. https://t.co/0hsNwxJjXp
— Martian MMA (@UFO_UFC) December 20, 2021
In her defense, ‘The Lioness‘ has previously requested UFC president Dana White to enroll more female athletes into the roster. Before her infamous loss against Julianna Pena at UFC 269, Amanda expressed a strong requirement for fresh talent in the promotion’s women’s divisions. Not only will it draw new competition for herself, but it will also help fresh talent grab a shot at the undisputed gold.
Speaking to Esporte Espetacular, Amanda said, “I think we should go out of the mix. Some girls have been fighting for a while now, they’re not even top 10 or top 5. They need to have their shots, too…you have to mix things up. Make some girls face each other, bring some girls who are (at) the bottom of the division, so it doesn’t look so stale like it is.”
How many times has Amanda Nunes defended her belts?
Amanda Nunes (22-5 MMA, 15-2 UFC) made her MMA debut against Ana Maria in 2008. However, it didn’t go as her plans as Nunes lost the fight via submission in just 35 seconds of the 1st round. Soon after, she went on to compete in prime MMA organizations such as Strikeforce, Invicta FC, and then finally the UFC.
Almost a decade ago, the Brazilian made her UFC debut against Sheila Gaff in August 2013. Nunes secured a stoppage victory via elbows in the first round, a manner she sought her 2nd victory as well against Germaine de Randamie. Nunes lost her next fight against Cat Zingano, a loss that’d remain the only one up until December 2021.
The 35-year-old went on a 3-fight win streak before being offered a shot at the bantamweight gold. After a dominating performance, Nunes grabbed the belt off Miesha Tate at UFC 200 and her reign would begin. ‘The Lioness’ would go on to defend her bantamweight belt a whopping 6 times in total. However, in the midst of it, she’d lost it to Julianna Pena once at UFC 269.
Furthermore, during the process, Nunes shocked the world by going toe-to-toe against a formidable opponent Cris Cyborg. Amanda KO’ed the knockout artist herself in round 1 to attain the featherweight gold. This was the night she became the very first women’s two-division champion.
Amanda Nunes fight week.
Here’s her destruction of Cris Cyborg🔥 pic.twitter.com/BT2lowjJe5
— 🌴ᴛʜᴇᴀʀᴛᴏꜰᴡᴀʀ🌴 (@TheArtOfWar6) December 6, 2021
As for her featherweight title, the Brazilian has defended it twice so far. Her first 145-lb defense came against Felicia Spencer and the next one against Megan Anderson. Nunes will return to the Octagon after almost a year at UFC 289. She expects to make her 7th successful bantamweight title defense against Irene Aldana.