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Amanda Nunes may not have any touchdown passes or Super Bowl wins under her MMA belt, but the UFC women’s bantamweight and featherweight champion is slowly becoming the Tom Brady of the sport.
This is according to UFC president Dana White, an avid New England Patriots fan who has seen Brady become the greatest quarterback of all time since his NFL arrival 20 years ago. While Nunes hasn’t had the same type of longevity in combat sports, “Lioness” has done enough over the past six years to call herself one of the greatest fighters of all time, male or female. Wins over the likes of Cris Cyborg, Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate, Holly Holm, and Valentina Shevchenko leave nothing to doubt.
Ahead of Nunes’ first women’s featherweight title defense this weekend at UFC 250 against the formidable Felicia Spencer, White had a chance to discuss the champion’s incredible run of excellence and ability to shatter any record she wants.
“Listen, she’s in a position right now — everybody already considers her the greatest female mixed martial artist ever, and one of the greatest of all time, male or female,” said White during UFC 250’s pre-fight media scrum (see it here).
“She’s in a position now where she’s like (Tom) Brady status, you know what I mean? She’s like Brady. You just keep breaking records and try to make the record so far out and hard to beat that, you know, it will take an incredible athlete to show up one day and break Amanda Nunes’ records. She fights for money to make a living for her and her family, and she fights for legacy now, to break as many records as she can and try to get that thing so far out of reach that people can’t touch her.”
Nunes, 32, will be entering uncharted territory at UFC 250. The promotion has never had a duel champion who continuously defends both titles in dominant fashion. If “Lioness” can keep turning in one-sided title defenses and beatdowns across two weight classes it may only take a few more trips to the Octagon to definitively cement herself as the best MMA fighter of all time.
The reigning UFC champion does have more losses on her professional record than other legendary fighters like Jon Jones or Georges St-Pierre, but Nunes has only lost once as a member of the UFC roster and is finishing at an incredible rate. Since losing to Cat Zingano via TKO back in 2014, “Lioness” has produced a perfect 10-0 record with seven finishes (six in the first round), seven UFC title fight wins, five UFC title defenses, and four post-fight bonuses. She has coupled her world-class striking with one-punch power, suffocating submissions, incredible takedown defense, and the ability to go five full rounds if needed.
Defeating Spencer this weekend at UFC 250 may be considered just another feather in the cap of Nunes, but it also represents a greenhouse effect for her career. “Lioness” may end up running away with everything should she capture yet another victory.
UFC 250 will go down later this evening (Sat., June 6, 2020) live on ESPN+ PPV from inside UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, with Nunes vs. Spencer serving as the headliner.
MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 250 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN+/Fight Pass “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on ESPN+/ESPN at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
See the complete UFC 250 fight card and lineup right here.