Amanda Nunes

Amanda Lourenço Nunes(born May 30, 1988) is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist. She competes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where she is the current UFC Women's Featherweight Champion and a former UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion.

Widely regarded as the greatest female mixed martial artist of all time, she is the first woman to become a two-division UFC champion, and the third fighter to hold UFC titles in two weight classes simultaneously, after Conor McGregor and Daniel Cormier. She is also the first and only fighter to defend two UFC titles while holding both. As of December 13, 2021, she is ranked #1 in the UFC women's bantamweight rankings[16] and as of January 17, 2022, she is ranked #2 in UFC women's pound-for-pound rankings.

Early life

Amanda Lourenço Nunes was born on May 30, 1988 in Pojuca, a small town outside of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, as a daughter of Ivete and Sindoval Nunes. She has two older sisters, Valdirene and Vanessa. After her parents split up when she was 4, Nunes and her sisters remained with their mother. To support the family as a single parent, Mrs. Ivete sold hot-dogs, sweets and beauty products alongside her regular job as a school administrative assistant. According to Nunes, her father initially disapproved of her fighting career due to the fact that she's a woman, but nowadays he supports her.

Growing up, Amanda was a very energetic child and often misbehaved or got into street fights with other kids. When she got into trouble, neighbors would always call her mother, who Nunes described as a loving but strict parent. "I was afraid of her! I was scared to death. My mother was always a tough person, very strict, she just looked at me and I was already freezing. I had and still have a great deal of respect for her" she recalls. Ivete encouraged her daughter to get involved with sports, as a way to deal with her excess energy.

Amanda initially aspired to become a professional soccer player, starting out in elementary school as a player on the local Pojuca team and later on the Salvador team. Eventually, she got the opportunity to try out for the Vitória football club, but her mother forbade her from doing so as she wanted her to focus on her studies instead.

Martial arts training

Fighting ran in Amanda's family - her uncle José Silva was a Vale Tudo fighter and her mother Ivete, who herself regularly trained boxing, cornered him during his fights. Nunes first got involved in fighting when her mom signed her up for capoeira classes when she was five, after her school teacher complained that Amanda was too hyperactive in class. She started learning karate as a seven year old.

My mother used to box, and I followed her footsteps into training. She loves fighting. My uncle used to fight Vale Tudo, and my mother even cornered him in some of his fights. She always says, ‘the first strike has to be yours. She can’t touch you before you touch her. You have to intimidate her.’

When she was sixteen, she started training Brazilian jiu-jitsu after her sister Vanessa had invited her to a dojo. At this time, she also got involved with boxing. Despite being the only woman at the gym, she soon started dominating her training partners in sparring and since there weren't any more challenges for her there, she decided to move to Salvador at the age of seventeen to live with her sister and train at the famous Edson Carvalho academy under the tutelage of his brother, Ricardo Carvalho. There, she also started training in judo.

Since her sister's apartment was too far away from the gym, after some time Amanda decided to accept her coach's offer to live at the gym. While she wasn't the only student that lived at Carvalho's gym, she was the only girl - and because the logo of the academy are two lions, her coach and other students started calling her "Leoa" (lioness in portuguese), a nickname she still carries to this day.

I slept on the mat, I woke up at about 4:30 am to clean the whole gym with the coach. There were some other athletes who lived in the gym as well, but there was only me as a woman. We woke up very early to leave the gym clean for the first jiu-jitsu class, which started at 6 am. I used to live there, so why not help the coach? That is also a part of fighter's life.Today, when I look back, I think it was very worthwhile to go through all of this. I really liked living at the gym, because it was facing Porto da Barra, facing the sea, so I trained, took a shower, went for a walk on the shore, stayed there. It was perfect for me.

Nunes soon started competing in BJJ tournaments. Among her biggest accomplishments in this sport are gold medal at the Pan American Jiu-Jitsu Championship in 2008 as a blue belt, gold medal at World Jiu-Jitsu Championship in 2009 as a purple belt and becoming a world champion of the North American Grappling Association (NAGA) in the lightweight and absolute divisions in 2012. She's currently a black belt in BJJ and a brown belt in judo.

Nunes started training MMA in 2007 at Edson Carvalho's gym. After moving to the US, she lived in New Jersey and trained at AMA Fight Club before moving to Miami to train at MMA Masters. She is currently training at American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida.

Mixed martial arts career

Nunes made her professional debut on March 8, 2008, at Prime MMA Championship 2. She faced Ana Maria and was defeated by armbar submission in the first round

Strikeforce

Nunes had won five straight fights, all by knockout prior to making her Strikeforce debut on January 7, 2011, at Strikeforce Challengers: Woodley vs. Saffiedine in Nashville, Tennessee. She defeated Canadian Julia Budd by knockout in just 14 seconds.

Nunes was scheduled to fight Julie Kedzie at Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum on June 18, 2011, in Dallas, Texas․ The bout was cancelled after Nunes sustained a foot injury.

Nunes fought Alexis Davis on September 10, 2011, at Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov. She lost the fight via TKO late in the second round. In the first round, Nunes started strongly with heavy strikes, but quickly faded. By the second round, Nunes was exhausted from the start of the round. While attempting a takedown she was instantly reversed and Davis was able to obtain full mount to finish Nunes with strikes.

Nunes signed to face Cat Zingano at Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Healy on September 29, 2012, but the event was cancelled when Gilbert Melendez, who was set to defend his title against Pat Healy, sustained a knee injury in training that forced his withdrawal from the card.

Invicta FC

Nunes was scheduled to face Milana Dudieva at Invicta FC 2: Baszler vs. McMann on July 28, 2012. Dudieva withdrew from the fight due to illness on July 9 and Nunes was then scheduled to face Leslie Smith instead. Smith also withdrew due to an injury and Nunes ultimately faced Raquel Pa'aluhi. Nunes won the fight via technical submission due to a rear-naked choke in the first round.

On January 5, 2013, Nunes returned to Invicta FC to face Sarah D'Alelio at Invicta FC 4: Esparza vs. Hyatt. Nunes lost the fight via unanimous decision.

Nunes was scheduled to face Kaitlin Young at Invicta FC 5: Penne vs. Waterson on April 5, 2013․ She withdrew due to an arm injury.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Nunes made her Octagon debut against Sheila Gaff at UFC 163 on August 3, 2013, in Brazil. She won the fight via TKO in the first round.

Nunes made her second UFC appearance when she faced Germaine de Randamie at UFC Fight Night 31 on November 6, 2013. She won the fight via TKO in the first round.

For her third fight with the promotion, Nunes was named the injury replacement for Shayna Baszler against Sarah Kaufman at The Ultimate Fighter Nations Finale. Nunes later pulled out of the bout with a dislocated thumb.

Nunes faced Cat Zingano on September 27, 2014, at UFC 178. After nearly finishing Zingano with punches in the first round, she lost the next round before being finished via TKO in the third round.

Nunes faced Shayna Baszler on March 21, 2015, at UFC Fight Night 62. She won the fight via TKO in the first round.

Nunes faced Sara McMann on August 8, 2015, at UFC Fight Night 73. She won the fight via a rear-naked choke submission in the first round, after knocking her opponent down with a three punch combination.

Nunes faced Valentina Shevchenko on March 5, 2016, at UFC 196. She won the fight by unanimous decision (29–28, 29–27, and 29–27).

Bantamweight and Featherweight Champion

After amassing a three-fight win streak, Nunes earned her first title shot in the UFC. She faced Miesha Tate for the UFC Women's Bantamweight Championship on July 9, 2016, at UFC 200. Nunes stunned Tate early on with knees and punches and then won the fight by submission (rear-naked choke) in the first round. Her victory made her the first openly gay UFC champion.

On December 30, 2016, Nunes made her first title defense against returning MMA superstar Ronda Rousey in the main event at UFC 207. Nunes won the fight via TKO due to punches 48 seconds into the first round.

For her second title defense, Nunes was scheduled to face Valentina Shevchenko in a rematch at UFC 213 on July 8, 2017. The pair originally fought at UFC 196, with Nunes winning by unanimous decision. Nunes was hospitalized the morning of the fight with chronic sinusitis and the fight was cancelled. Joanna Jędrzejczyk offered to replace Nunes, but the Nevada State Athletic Commission could not clear her on such short notice. Nunes instead fought Shevchenko at UFC 215 on September 9 in Edmonton, Alberta. Nunes won the closely contested fight by split decision. Out of 22 media outlets, 10 scored it for Nunes, 10 for Shevchenko, and 2 scored it a draw.

Nunes faced Raquel Pennington on May 12, 2018, at UFC 224. After a dominant performance, Nunes finished the fight with ground and pound at 2:36 of round five. This was the first UFC event headlined by two openly gay fighters.

Nunes moved up in weight to face Cris Cyborg for the UFC Women's Featherweight Championship on December 29, 2018, at UFC 232. Nunes knocked Cyborg out in 51 seconds of the first round to become the new UFC Women’s Featherweight Champion. This made her the first woman in UFC to hold championship belts in different divisions simultaneously․ This win also earned her the Performance of the Night award.

Nunes returned to bantamweight to make her fourth title defense against former champion Holly Holm on July 6, 2019, at UFC 239․ She won the fight via knockout in round one after dropping Holm with a head kick and following up with punches. This win earned her the Performance of the Night award.

Nunes faced Germaine de Randamie on December 14, 2019 at UFC 245 to defend her UFC Women's Bantamweight Championship. After outgrappling her opponent in every round, she won the fight via unanimous decision (49–44, 49–46, and 49–45). This win meant Nunes had the most wins in women’s title fights in the UFC, with seven such wins․

Nunes was expected to face Felicia Spencer on May 9, 2020 at then UFC 250. On April 9, Dana White, president of the UFC announced that this event was postponed․ The bout eventually took place on June 6, 2020 at UFC 250. Nunes won via unanimous decision (50–44, 50–44, and 50–45).

Nunes was expected to defend her featherweight title against Megan Anderson on December 2020 at UFC 256․ It was announced on November 9 that Nunes pulled out due to an undisclosed injury and the bout was postponed to 2021. The pairing was rescheduled for March 6, 2021 at UFC 259. Nunes won the fight via triangle armbar in round one.

Nunes was expected to defend her bantamweight title on August 7, 2021 at UFC 265 against Julianna Peña.[86] Nunes tested positive for COVID-19 on July 29 and the bout was cancelled. The fight was rescheduled and eventually took place at UFC 269 on December 11, 2021.[89] After dominating the first round, Nunes was outstruck in the second round, and eventually submitted via rear-naked choke, losing her bantamweight championship in a huge upset.

On February 5, 2022, it was announced that Nunes and Julianna Peña will be the coaches for The Ultimate Fighter 30 at ESPN+ and the show will feature contestants at heavyweight and women's flyweight.

Other ventures

Nunes appears in the film Bruised starring Halle Berry.

Personal life

Nunes is the first openly lesbian UFC champion. She is married to fellow UFC fighter Nina Nunes (née Ansaroff), who competes in the strawweight division.[96] She credits her UFC success to their relationship.[56] On September 24, 2020, her wife gave birth to the couple's first child, daughter Raegan Ann Nunes.