Is Amanda Nunes Really the GOAT Women’s UFC Fighter?
There have only been a handful of people who’ve won belts in two weight classes, and Amanda Nunes is one of them. This accomplishment puts her in the ranks with Conor McGregor, Daniel Cormier, and Henry Cejudo. For that reason, and more, Amanda Nunes is undoubtedly the GOAT of women’s MMA.
The early days of Amanda Nunes’ career
Before Ronda Rousey dominated every woman in her way and paved the way for the UFC to add women to its roster, women’s MMA was pretty chaotic. A lot of future UFC stars were fighting relatively nobodies, and some great fighters lost fights that they, in hindsight, shouldn’t have.
This was the story of Nunes’ career before the UFC. She had a 7-3 record before she joined the UFC, and she even lost in her very first pro fight.
But, when she made it into the UFC, things started improving for her. She won five of her first six fights in the UFC, and she won four of them by knockout or submission.
One of her most significant wins was a unanimous decision victory over Valentina Shevchenko, who’d later become the UFC women’s flyweight champ. With that win and her steady win streak, the UFC gave her a title shot against the champ, Miesha Tate.
Amanda Nunes dominates the UFC
At the time, the women’s bantamweight belt was in a bit of a free-for-all. Holly Holm had just knocked out Rousey, and then, in Holm’s first title defense, she got choked out by Tate.
Fans expected that the belt would continue changing hands until Rousey returned, but Nunes had a different idea. She completely dominated Tate and won the title, and then, in her first title defense, she knocked Rousey out in less than a minute.
Some fans thought that these were just flukes, but Nunes proved everyone wrong when she continued beating her opponents. She beat Shevchenko once again and then, a year later, the UFC gave her a super fight against the women’s featherweight champ, Cris Cyborg.
Cyborg was the scariest woman in women’s MMA, as few women wanted to fight her. She had a record of 20-1, and she hadn’t lost a fight in over a decade.
So of course, Nunes surprised everyone again and knocked Cyborg out in less than a minute. This made her a champ-champ, just like McGregor was, but she wasn’t done yet.
She then knocked out Holm in the first round, and then she went on to show why she’s the best by beating Germaine de Randamie, the former women’s featherweight champ.
She’s not done yet
With this impressive string of victories, Amanda Nunes has shown why fans and analysts are right in calling her the women’s GOAT. It’s not just the fact that she’s racked up so many wins against so many impressive women, it’s also how she did it. She’s knocked out a few of her opponents, such as Cyborg and Rousey, and she’s choked out a few others, such as Tate.
On top of that, she’s also shown that she can fight for five rounds and that she can adapt when she’s hurt. In her fight against de Randamie, her opponent had her injured, but she survived, and she managed to recover and win. This type of mentality and tenacity is part of what makes her a GOAT, but she’s not done yet.
As MMAJunkie wrote, she’s glad that she’s being recognized as the GOAT, but she still loves to compete. Fighting is what she loves to do and it’s what she’s good at, so she wants to continue dominating her opponents for as long as she can. She’s currently 32 years old, so she may have a long career ahead of her.
