Amanda Nunes with the UFC championship belt.
The first “superfight” for women’s mixed martial arts is scheduled for the end of the year, heralding an explosive evening of sweat, blood, and tears — in Las Vegas, baby!
In the middle of it all, standing in the spotlight of one of the world’s fastest-growing sports, will be the UFC’s first openly gay champion, bantamweight Amanda “The Lioness” Nunes. She will take on one of MMA’s toughest fighters in featherweight champion Cris “Cyborg” Justino on Dec. 29. The fight is the card’s main event.
Nunes, 30, won the UFC’s bantamweight title in 2016 when she took it from Miesha Tate. She defended her belt from Ronda Rousey last January in a highly touted (and viewed) match. Not only was it an impressive defense of her belt, but when the fight was over, Nunes ran over to her partner, Nina Ansaroff, and kissed her. Gay women kissing. On pay-per-view. On the UFC. For a sport that has suffered very publicly from homophobic and transphobic remarks, having an out champion in Nunes takes on extra weight.
Her partner is also a UFC fighter, and the couple has remarked that they’ve each found the best training partner they could ask for. On Aug. 18, the couple announced their decision to be training partners for life with their engagement.
As a fighter, Nunes looks like she can’t be stopped. She’s on a tear through the bantamweight division, whooping up on the likes of Tate, Rousey, Raquel Pennington (another openly gay fighter!), and Valentina Shevchenko. She has 16 wins and four losses, and for many fans, she’s got the best odds of beating Justino, who has dominated in her weight class with a 20-1 record. Justino, 33, is a former Strikeforce and Invicta FC champion, and has some of the heaviest hands in MMA.
It’s a good match, as both women are tough strikers who can’t seem to find enough opponents to chew through. It’s also an important match in the UFC, which usually saves some of its biggest and best fights cards for New Year’s weekend.
Amanda Nunes weighs in before her fight while wearing her lion mask on her head. Shutterstock.
Women weren’t taken seriously when the UFC first started allowing their fights, not until Ronda Rousey showed up. She started mopping up opponents almost immediately in vicious style — if you want to get attention, breaking arms sure is a way — and became a sensation. She held her undefeated reign for almost three years until Holly Holm took it from her with a devastating head kick in 2015.
Since then, the bantamweight belt has shuffled around until landing with Nunes, who has held it for two years. In the UFC, bantamweight means 135 pounds. Justino, Nunes’ opponent, fights at the featherweight level, meaning 145 pounds. Nunes will come up to Justino’s division for the fight. Both women are from Brazil, but Nunes trains and fights out of the United States.
If she wins, Nunes would be the first woman in the UFC to hold two champion belts in different weight classes, and would be only the third fighter of any gender to hold two such championships simultaneously.
The UFC still doesn’t have an openly gay male athlete; Liz Carmouche, now in the flyweight division, was the sport’s first out athlete, competing against Rousey in 2013. Having out athletes such as Nunes exist as they are is a boon to younger LGBTQ athletes; a recent study from the Human Rights Campaign found that 84 percent of Americans have witnessed or experienced anti-LGBTQ attitudes from teammates, coaches, and officials.
UFC 232 takes place Dec. 29 in Las Vegas. It will likely be available on a pay-per-view basis.
I’m really looking forward to seeing this fight and, although I’m 100% behind the Lioness I think Cyborg will win this thing. It will be a good fight nonetheless
yeah, i basically just want more than 45 seconds of pummeling to another belt; cyborg is so tough, but i think nunes will have an advantage being able to stay at 145 and not cut as much weight as cyborg
Nah its going to be quick. First round for sure. They both hit too hard. People who have fought say its like being hit by a dude. A good clean shot by either is all it takes to put you on the road to a KO. A second will end it. I give advantage to Cyborg being she doesn’t have to shift weight class. Although I’ve heard that though Nunes may fight at Bantam she carries much more weight between fights. Maybe it was Rogan’s podcast that I heard she walks around at 150-160. Maybe Nunes can pull it off. I hope so I love her so much.
Who knows? MMA has always been unpredictable. For example, Holm went the distance with Cyborg and lost by decision. Nunes likes to clinch and work wrestling on the cage, which could keep her in it for longer, should she keep Cyborg from making space again. All that being said, I suspect that Cyborg will get the job done in the later rounds.
remember when holly holm destroyed rousey’s whole enigmatic winning streak with a kick to the face? we can’t know what will happen but goddamn i hope they slug it out for a while at least.
I hope for that too but I think it’s gonna be in the first round, one way or another.
This is the fight everybody has been waiting for! My dad has been talking about wanting to see it for months. Hopefully after this women’s MMA grows because the women literally kick ass and deserve the final slot. I also hope this match leads to more competition for women in the sport.
Awesome. Thanks for covering this, Molly!
you got it, pal.
Always nice to see sports coverage on AS. Thanks for that.
Remember Britanni Nichols’ sports column? I remember….
I always appreciate any sports coverage on AS, but would like to point out that using the word brawl in the headline minimises MMA as a sport and makes it sound like a streetfight, which it really is not.