Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women’s Bantamweight champion, Holly Holm, tonight (Sat., July 6, 2019) looked to reclaim her 135-pound title against the first-ever female “champ-champ” in company history, Amanda Nunes, in the pay-per-view (PPV) co-main event of UFC 239, which took place inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The deck was certainly stacked against “Preacher’s Daughter” heading into the bout — Nunes was fresh off a shocking knockout win over the most feared fighter in the sport, Cris Cyborg (watch it), and was in the midst of the most impressive win streak in the history of women’s mixed martial arts (MMA). Indeed, Nunes has run through the best of the best, including Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate and Valentina Shevchenko (twice), among others.
And, unfortunately for Holm, Nunes was able to add Holm to that impressive hit list, scoring an incredible first round head kick knockout (WATCH HIGHLIGHTS!).
It didn’t seem like either fighter was willing to pull the trigger early, with neither of them getting close until about one minute into the bout, with Holm scoring the first strike, sending Nunes back with a short counter. Nunes responded with a low kick, but nothing significant landed for anyone three minutes into the match — it was a game of cat and mouse. Nunes whiffed on a huge haymaker, but used the momentum to clinch Holm and briefly drag her to the canvas. Holm returned to her feet and looked to score with low kicks, but Nunes drilled her with a sweet combination upstairs. Holm backed up, looking to reset, but Nunes timed it perfect, launching a right high kick that landed flush. Holm collapsed to her butt immediately and Nunes swarmed in for the finish, landing a few shots to the face before the referee was forced to intervene and stop it.
WOW! Nunes was somehow able to follow the historic Jorge Masvidal act (watch that insanity here) to keep UFC 239’s momentum rolling; meanwhile, becoming the first fighter ever to defeat every single UFC women’s Bantamweight champion ever.
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