A funny thing happened on the way to booking Ronda Rousey against some poor girl who’s fixing to eat every word she ever spoke about the champion: People overlooked one of the more notable contenders in the division.
On Saturday night in Brazil, Amanda Nunes reminded everyone exactly why she shouldn’t be forgotten as that contender.
In a short, brutal win over Rousey’s running mate Shayna Baszler, Nunes made a statement. She demolished a veteran in savage fashion, collecting her third win in four UFC bouts. The lone loss was to Cat Zingano, and it was very nearly a win given that she spent the entire first round smashing the eventual top contender with ground-and-pound.
Going into weekend action, Nunes was ranked No. 9 in the women’s bantamweight division, a misnomer if ever there was one. A few more of those punches land on Zingano, and perhaps she’s already fought Rousey once; even if she hasn’t, she’s surely deep into the Top Five of the division.
As it stands, names like Liz Carmouche and Holly Holm are floating around her, bouts that she’d almost certainly dominate if they were to be booked. A little further up the chain is the likes of Sarah Kaufman, Alexis Davis and even Sara McMann, all of whom would struggle with the raw power and capacity for imposing technique possessed by the Brazilian.
In the process of booking Rousey’s next opponent, the UFC was clearly enamored with either Jessica Eye or Bethe Correia, eventually settling on the latter. Based on how they’ve looked in the cage, Eye’s been mediocre against good competition, Correia’s been good against mediocre competition, and Nunes falls somewhere between.
Still, based on her aggression and excellence in spurts, there’s no reason to think she’s not deserving of a little more praise. The idea that Eye and Correia were all the talk for a fight with Rousey, while no one even pondered Nunes, is silly. The only argument could have been that she lost her last bout, a point she erased enthusiastically Saturday. If the UFC had waited a few days for that to happen, it could have had a third plausible competitor in play for the title.
The UFC didn’t, though, and the situation as it currently stands is one that the promotion can use to its advantage going forward. While people concern themselves with the relatively shallow nature of women’s bantamweight, the movement at the top of the heap has sets things up for the remainder of 2015.
Correia is next for Rousey, in Brazil, in a bout that will sell as much for story as it will for substance.
Around that time, Eye will battle Miesha Tate in a title eliminator. One of those ladies will be next in line for a shot at gold.
And Nunes? She’s out there, waiting for her chance to show everyone that she’s far more elite than her ranking would suggest. McMann is presently without a dance partner and makes major sense, as would the winner of the upcoming UFC 186 bout between Kaufman and Davis.
Whoever it is, though, has to be a big name. Anything else is a waste of time for one of the top young women in the weight class.
It’s time to stop sleeping on Nunes and give her what she’s out there earning. It’s time to pay attention to her.
She’s made herself pretty hard to ignore.
Follow me on Twitter @matthewjryder!
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com