Amanda Nunes News

Drake Riggs - January 11, 2018

It was announced by Invicta FC on their official website today that the UFC’s Bantamweight champion, Amanda Nunes would be re-joining their organization! But this time, not as a fighter but as part of the Athlete Development Team. Nunes’ primary responsibilities will be to assist in making matchmaking decisions, therefore leading to intriguing fight card layouts and helping identify future champions, specifically looking at talent from Brazil and the southeastern U.S. Nunes fought twice for Invicta, once in 2012 and once in 2013. She went 1-1, defeating Raquel Pa’aluhi and losing a decision to Sarah D’Alelio. She spoke a bit about Invicta and her new position in this interview:

Tom Taylor - January 10, 2018

Ever since UFC women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg thwarted challenger Holly Holm at UFC 219, UFC women’s bantamweight champ Amanda Nunes has been eager to fight her. UFC President Dana White also seems to be on board with this plan. And while there are still some major hurdles to clear before this fight is made, Nunes’ head coach at American Top Team, Conan Silveira, is very confident it’ll happen. “People want to see it,” Silveira told MMAjunkie. “I think they have the best opportunity to leave their marks on history.”

Drake Riggs - January 8, 2018

Nothing is set in stone regarding the UFC’s current Featherweight division. Matter of fact, there has yet to be a UFC Featherweight fight between two fighters that haven’t fought below 140 lbs. There have been three Featherweight fights so far in the UFC. Starting things off with UFC 208, where the inaugural champion was crowned when Germaine De Randamie defeated Holly Holm via unanimous decision. Both fighters were previously Bantamweight contenders before that fight. The second fight was for the vacant title after De Randamie gave up the title making it Cris Cyborg vs Tonya Evinger. Evinger was coming over as the Invicta FC Bantamweight champion, filling in for Invicta’s Featherweight champion, Megan Anderson. And most recently, Cyborg defended her title against Holly Holm at UFC 219. In an effort to break this trend, the champion, Cyborg wants to fight a fighter with a recent win at 145 lbs for her next title defense. Then she will be open to a super fight with the Bantamweight champion, Amanda Nunes who is clamoring for the fight as are the fans. Cyborg had this to say on Twitter in response to Nunes’ coach at American Top Team, Conan Silveira when he said he thinks Nunes vs Cyborg will “1000% happen”.

Drake Riggs - January 8, 2018

UFC 219 left us with two big questions. Those being, “who’s next for Cris Cyborg?” and “who’s next for Khabib Nurmagomedov?”. These are both questions we have yet to get answers too. But…we appear to be getting closer to the answer for Cyborg more than we are for Khabib. The reigning UFC Featherweight champion, Cyborg has called for a fight with top 3 Featherweight, Megan Anderson since her win over Holly Holm at UFC 219. That fight, however, isn’t possible just yet as Anderson has yet to be cleared to compete. The second name that was brought up was current Bantamweight champion, Amanda Nunes who is all for the fight. She isn’t the only one though, UFC president, Dana White also voiced that that’s the fight he would like to make next and today, American Top Team head coach and coach of Nunes gave his take on the fight when he spoke with MMAJunkie: “People want to see it, I think they have the best opportunity to leave their marks on history. I believe for the weight division, Amanda is going to be extremely well-prepared,” he said. “She’s not going to have to make the weight. She’s probably going to be strong in that division. I do believe the compensation (for) the strength that comes from Cyborg definitely will be the tools that Amanda has on her side. I think it’s the perfect fight. It’s a perfect match. It’s a champions fight – it’s something we don’t see happen often.

Justin Golightly - January 4, 2018

Cris Cyborg came, she saw, she conquered. She took on her biggest test to date and still proved she’s the most dominant women’s champion in the world of MMA today. After winning a decision over former UFC bantamweight champion Holly Holm, everyone is wondering what will be next. Cyborg has said she wants true featherweight fighter Megan Anderson, but the UFC seems to have other plans. Despite saying she doesn’t want to fight another Brazilian, Dana White says Amanda Nunes challenging Cyborg is the fight to make. “First of all, Amanda Nunes wants to fight her. Amanda Nunes wants to fight [Cris] Cyborg,” White said. “That is the fight to make, and that is the fight I will make. Yeah, That’s the fight. That’s the fight. Amanda Nunes is a big, strong, powerful puncher. I think she matches up very well with Cyborg too, and I think that’s a fun fight. And that’s the fight to make.”

Justin Golightly - December 28, 2017

In a couple of days, Holly Holm will step into the Octagon to try and dethrone the dominant Cris Cyborg and take her featherweight title. Having beat Ronda Rousey at the top of her career, a win over Cyborg will put her as the best women’s fighter of all time and the first ever women’s two-division champion. Add that to her boxing accolades and it’s hard to argue for anyone else. However, there is one other fighter who has given Rousey a loss: Current UFC bantamweight champ Amanda Nunes. Who is also ready to cement her place as the best female fighter on the planet by beating whoever comes out on top this Saturday. “We have the utmost respect for [Cris] Cyborg and [Holly] Holm, it’d be a great fight with either one, but we believe Amanda [Nunes] could be champion in both divisions, because she has all the tools for that. She is an extremely well rounded fighter and has been showing that she does deserve to face the winner. That’s our main focus for 2018. Of course we know she has no way to defend two belts, but that decision would be taken after her fight against the Cyborg vs. Holm winner.” — American Top Team coach Conan Silveira speaking to Portal do Vale Tudo.

Chris Taylor - November 26, 2017

UFC champion Amanda Nunes believes that the UFC wants to see her defeated by someone who they can “really promote and make money with”. The women’s bantamweight champion recently vented her frustrations in an interview with Flocombat.

Tom Taylor - November 19, 2017

On the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio, UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes admitted that, while she didn’t want to step on the toes of her fellow Brazilian Cris Cyborg, she believed her next opponent should be former champion Holly Holm. “I’m ready to go,” the bantamweight champ said on BJ Penn Radio. “I kind of don’t want to step in front of Cris Cyborg right now, because I know she wants to fight Holly Holm. But I don’t think this fight’s going to happen, and if Holly Holm comes down again, to 135 [pounds], we can do this. I want to defend my belt. I want to defend the 135 belt. Holly Holm is one of the only girls in this division [riding] a win, so I think she’s the one. I think if she’s not going to fight Cyborg, she has to come down and make this happen.”

Jason Kindschy - November 15, 2017

BJPENN Radio returns at 8PM ET/5PM PT with another stacked lineup! 8:15PM ET- Kicking off the show we are joined by former title challenger and possible future UFC champion, “The Bullet” Valentina Schevchenko. Shortly after announcing she would be dropping down to compete in the newly formed women’s flyweight division, Valentina challenged Paige Van Zant to a title-elimination fight. However, Paige declined the matchup and we’re going to discuss the situation with Schevchenko in depth.

Justin Golightly - October 31, 2017

Aside from the announcement of Khabib Nurmagomedov fighting Edson Barboza at UFC 219, news has been quiet for the supposed end-of-the-year super card. If Raquel Pennington hadn’t of broken her leg, we would have already had the card’s first title fight booked. The plan was to have Amanda Nunes defend her belt against fourth-ranked Pennington. Her management team has moved on, stating Nunes will take the rest of the year off and citing a lack of logical challengers. However, Nunes may have her eye on sixth-ranked Cat Zingano after she comes back and grabs a win. I would really like a rematch with you… I feel one more win would put you there

Tom Taylor - September 10, 2017

Last night, in the main event of UFC 215 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes put her belt on the line opposite perhaps her fiercest rival: Kyrgyzstani striker Valentina Shevchenko. The fight registered as an incredibly competitive one, and after five close rounds, pretty much every onlooker was happy not to be a judge. In the end, though, the victory went to Nunes via split decision, which means the belt will remain around her waist.

Justin Golightly - September 9, 2017

It’s finally here. Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko finally meet for the second time. We were supposed to get this fight at UFC 213, but unfortunately Amanda Nunes’ severe sinusitis flared up and she pulled out. After going through the build-up three times, Nunes and Shevchenko wasted no time getting after each other tonight at UFC 215. Arguably two of the best women fighters on the planet threw down to see who improved since UFC 196. @BulletValentina just dislocated her finger… Then had it popped back into place in her corner. She didn't even flinch. #savage

Russell Ess - September 7, 2017

Although Amanda Nunes may be feeling a lack of promotion after pulling out of UFC 213, the UFC women’s bantamweight champion is still just focused on one thing: fighting. Nunes was given a hard time after pulling out of the UFC 213 championship title fight against Valentina Shevchenko the day of their scheduled fight. Nunes stated that she had chronic sinusitis and was not feeling well enough to fight. Shevchenko believes that Nunes had a rough weight cut and was feeling week after making the 135-pound limit, which ultimately caused her to pull out of the fight.

Justin Golightly - September 6, 2017

Amanda Nunes has more than proved her worth as a champion. Last year, the UFC bantamweight title jumped from Holly Holm, to Miesha Tate, and into the arms of the soft-spoken but gritty Brazilian and it hasn’t left yet. The UFC were even able to match Nunes up with Ronda Rousey to take away any doubt who deserved to hold the belt. She passed her test with flying colors as she took Rousey out in less than a minute, successfully defending her title. Despite these achievements, Nunes goes into her title defense against Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 215 feeling like the UFC doesn’t promote her as much as they could. “I know I’m not the beautiful girl and I don’t have the blonde hair and the blue eyes. I am not the kind of face the UFC wants to put out there, but I’m OK with that. I’m going to live my life and be happy. If the UFC decides to promote me that would be awesome, but I trust them. The UFC knows what they are doing. If they think they should promote someone else, fine. Just give me the fights and let me do my job and I will be happy. Whatever the UFC decides is fine with me. I’m just a fighter and that’s just what I want to do more than anything else: Let me fight.”

Justin Golightly - August 18, 2017

After coming off the wrong side of a decision to UFC bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes at UFC 196, a decision she tried to correct at UFC 213. Unfortunately, Nunes had to withdraw due to a severe and chronic sinusitis. Shevchenko didn’t accept that excuse, wasting no time telling our own Chris Taylor about what she thought in their latest interview. Finally, they are going to get to fight again at UFC 215 and after all Shevchenko has been through, she’s not accepting a loss as an answer. “Everything is going good. I’m staying in Colorado together with my coach and my sister Antonina. I am training very hard and preparing to be the strongest that I can. This fight will be totally different because since that fight I have grown so much. I had very good training camps for my fight with Holly Holm and then Julianna Pena. So I feel like I am a totally different person and a different fighter than she fought last time. Most importantly for me is there is only one way. The one way is the victory. There is nothing else, nothing more. I will  do everything, it doesn’t matter what. If I have to fight the full distance I will do it. If I have to fight on the ground, I will do that. It doesn’t matter, whatever I have to do to win this fight I will do it!” – Valentina Shevchenko on her upcoming rematch with Amanda Nunes.

Russell Ess - August 17, 2017

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko are scheduled to fight once again at UFC 215. Nunes and Shevchenko first met in the Octagon in March of last year at UFC 196 where Nunes won a unanimous decision after Shevchenko turned things up in the third round. The two were set to fight in the main event of UFC 213 in July, however, Nunes pulled out of the bout the day of the scheduled fight after feeling ill.

bjpenndotcom - July 20, 2017

Big news surfaced Thursday morning regarding two title fights. UFC President Dana White informed TSN this morning that UFC 215, which is set to take place at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, on September 9th, will feature a main event scrap between UFC flyweight kingpin Demetrious Johnson, and top contender Ray Borg, with a women’s bantamweight showdown between Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko set for the co-main event. Johnson vs. Borg and Nunes vs. Shevchenko set for UFC 215 on September 9th. pic.twitter.com/mZdAeMIo0n

Russell Ess - July 17, 2017

The women’s bantamweight title fight between champion Amanda Nunes and challenger Valentina Shevchenko has been rescheduled for UFC 215, according to a report by Combate. UFC 215 takes place in Edmonton, Canada, on September 9. The two were supposed to fight in the main event of UFC 213. However, Nunes withdrew from the competition the day of their fight after claiming that she felt ill.