Greatest Female Fighter Ever? Nunes Has Officially Wrecked 2 MMA Legends
Amanda Nunes burst onto Twitter in a big way Saturday, ranking right up there in the trending topics alongside such heavy-hitting stories as the College Football Playoff and the ongoing political standoff in the nation’s capital.
And if you saw what she did to Cris “Cyborg” Justino in 51 seconds at UFC 232, you’d know why. Nunes’ devastating knockout to win the women’s featherweight title, which came two years after she dispatched of Ronda Rousey (sending her off to the relative safety of scripted slap fights in WWE) in just 48 seconds, has positioned her as a solid contender on the list of the greatest women’s mixed martial arts champions of all time.
Watch the video for yourself. From the moment Justino eats a counter punch about 30 seconds into the fight, the question is not if Nunes will knock her out, but how long it’s going to take and how much lasting damage will be done.
The answers are “21 seconds” and “Cyborg’s going to be talking like Sylvester Stallone if she keeps getting hit like that.”
Nunes’ mastery of positioning and walking her opponent into punches brings to mind some of the best male fighters in combat sports; walking someone into a counter is how boxers like Floyd Mayweather and Juan Manuel Márquez built their legends.
For another example of controlling enemy movement and finishing a fight in quick, devastating fashion, look no further than video of the Rousey fight.
Of course, for every great event in sports, there will always be someone around to completely miss the point and ruin the moment.
On Saturday, it was Action Network and former ESPN sports business “guru” Darren Rovell, who clearly knows as much about mixed martial arts as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez knows about economics.
Rovell’s tweet is an absolute howler:
Do you know what normal people call demolishing the most valuable fighters (of either gender) in a sport?
They call it being the best.
Nunes is now the name everyone wants to watch. Why? Well, all UFC president Dana White has to do whenever he’s got Nunes on a UFC card is post those two fights, all 99 seconds of them, to Twitter, and say, “Want to see more? Call your local cable or satellite provider and buy the pay-per-view.”
To which plenty of people will post another Twitter staple — Fry from “Futurama” yelling “shut up and take my money.”
Of course, White was happy to dump on Rovell’s little social media clown show.
“Saying stupid things sometimes makes you stand out,” White said of Rovell, and he could have just stopped there and dropped the mic.
“What’s his name, tonight, that idiot’s name, that I can’t stand — Darren Rovell,” White continued.
White then described Rovell’s remarks, pantomiming shooting himself in the head while doing so, before finally saying, “I’m pretty resilient to this dumb s—, but oh my God.”
But UFC fans shouldn’t pay too much attention to Rovell’s dumb comments. Instead, they should just take one look at Nunes and welcome her as the new queen of women’s MMA.
White sure did. “She’s the best ever,” he said, according to ESPN. “How can you deny it? That’s what this fight was for. If you look at her résumé and who she’s beat, she’s the best ever. You can’t debate that.”
Justino, for her part, was gracious after taking just the second loss of her 13-year career.
“Today was not my day,” she said. “I lost, you know, it happens in the fight game. It’s not the first time I’ve lost, it’s not the last time I’m gonna lose. It happens, you know. It’s the fight game.”
“Of course I’m not happy. Of course I had my heart broken. But I didn’t cry, and I’m not going to cry, because I did everything (I could),” she added. “Today was Amanda’s day.”
Nunes was equally gracious in victory.
“Cris is a great fighter — nothing but respect. It was an awesome opportunity to share the octagon with her. I’m very thankful to her for this. I’m the new ‘champ champ.’ I said that before, and now I’m just achieving this dream.,” Nunes said.
Now, there’s only one question left unanswered: When are we going to get to see Nunes fight again, because it’s going to be great fun.
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