5 Defining Moments: Amanda Nunes

UFC 232 is now available on Amazon Prime.

Amanda Nunes clearly isn’t one to back down from a challenge. On Dec. 29, her grit and determination more than anything else will be put to the test when she faces the most dominant female fighter today, Cris Cyborg.

Will Nunes be the first Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s two-division champion? As the world awaits the result of this massive encounter at UFC 232, here are more of Nunes’ career-defining moments.

Dual Division Dominance

Nunes started her career as a featherweight, and while she debuted with a loss, “The Lioness” followed it up with six straight victories, mostly in her native Brazil. She moved to bantamweight after her second fight at Strikeforce where she lost to Alexis Davis. And while she was previously successful at 145, it was at bantamweight where she achieved the highest accolades, having won the UFC women’s bantamweight title and successfully defending twice.

Better Fueled

Nunes is a ferocious scrapper with a killer instinct that is off the charts, and this is perhaps the reason she is prone to gassing out. In fact, she’s had fights where she looked like she emptied her gas tank, even to a winning cause. But recently, she has proven that she can go through the championship rounds. In her last two bouts, Nunes went five full rounds in a split decision victory over Valentina Shevchenko and forced a fifth-round stoppage of Raquel Pennington.

Never Disheartened

Not many people have the capacity to bounce back after a major setback, and Nunes did. After starting her Octagon campaign with two straight triumphs, she was given her toughest assignment yet, the undefeated Cat Zingano. The fight served as a title eliminator, with powerhouse Ronda Rousey seemingly waiting for her next prey. In their UFC 178 encounter, Nunes almost finished Zingano with a barrage of punches, but then the latter managed to take control of round 2 and went for the TKO finish in round 3. But in her next fight, Nunes regrouped and defeated Shayna Baszler in devastating fashion.

Supreme Confidence

The loss to Zingano, which was itself a career-defining moment, sparked the longest winning streak of Nunes’ career. Currently, she has won seven straight and as aforementioned, captured a UFC title. Accepting the fight with Cyborg shows she has no plans of slowing down. Expect Nunes to go all out in one of the biggest bouts in the history of women’s MMA.

Chasing a Legacy

“The Lioness” has been phenomenal in the Octagon, defeating almost every opposition put in front of her. But her next fight is of a different magnitude. UFC 232 is about making history and creating a legacy. The last time she fought at featherweight was in 2011 but this year, she jumped back to 145 to challenge Cyborg and try to become a two-division champion. Perhaps GOAT status is not far-fetched?

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