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Last week saw the announcement that reigning UFC bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes will make the next defense of her title against Irene Aldana at UFC 289.
Amanda Nunes’ list of accomplishments are legendary at this stage, but is ‘The Lioness’ the greatest female fighter of all time?
There are a number of contenders to this throne, but the truth is that none of them quite match up to the Brazilian great.
Here are five reasons why Amanda Nunes is the greatest female fighter of all time.
#5. Amanda Nunes is one of just four fighters to hold two UFC titles in different weight divisions simultaneously
The list of fighters in UFC history to claim titles in two different weight classes is a small one, and the list of fighters to claim two titles simultaneously is even smaller. This list consists of just four fighters: Conor McGregor, Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes and Henry Cejudo.
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Naturally, this feat is almost impossible, and plenty of fighters, even greats like Israel Adesanya and B.J. Penn, have failed to achieve it.
Therefore, any fighter who does pull it off should automatically be considered an all-time great. To date, Nunes is the only female fighter who has ever managed it.
‘The Lioness’ defeated Miesha Tate to claim bantamweight gold in the summer of 2016, and then stunned everyone by knocking out Cris Cyborg for the featherweight title two years later.
Okay, she’s also the only female fighter to attempt to become a simultaneous double champion, and the women’s featherweight division is remarkably thin, but that doesn’t matter.
The accomplishment still stands, and that accomplishment makes her MMA’s female GOAT.
#4. Amanda Nunes has defended both of her titles on multiple occasions
Had Amanda Nunes simply given up one of her UFC titles after becoming a double champion in late 2018, it still would’ve been impossible to deny her greatness.
However, unlike the other simultaneous double champs in UFC history, ‘The Lioness’ not only kept both of her titles, but in the years that have followed, she’s continued to defend them, too.
To date, Nunes has delivered five successful defenses of her bantamweight crown, and two successful defenses of her featherweight title.
Seemingly, it doesn’t matter which weight class she fights in, she remains dominant over her competitors.
When you consider that other female UFC champions like Jessica Andrade, Miesha Tate and Carla Esparza failed to even make a single successful defense of their titles, Nunes’ accomplishments are both unique and remarkable.
Put simply, if you go by her history in title fights, she’s the greatest female fighter ever by a mile.
#3. Amanda Nunes has remarkable longevity
Given the way that time flies by in the world of the UFC, the fact that Amanda Nunes has been around for so long now has probably crept up on many fans.
Remarkably, though, 2023 is the tenth year that ‘The Lioness’ has been part of the UFC’s roster. She debuted all the way back in August 2013, stopping Sheila Gaff in the first round of their bantamweight clash.
Most fighters tend to slow down after a decade of professional fights, let alone a decade of wars at the very top of the UFC.
Nunes, however, is an exception to that rule. She did appear to be finally slowing down when she lost her bantamweight title to Julianna Pena in 2021, but then she righted the ship in their rematch last year and somehow looked as good as ever.
‘The Lioness’ turns 35 years old later this month, but given the physical shape she appears to be in, she could well dominate for a few more years yet.
This incredible longevity is almost unmatched in female MMA, making Nunes the GOAT.
#2. Amanda Nunes usually outclasses her opponents
In some ways, it’s unfair to declare a fighter as an all-time great – or the outright GOAT – based on the back of them being able to finish their opponents.
After all, it’s trickier to finish great opponents than it is to finish average ones, and so someone like Georges St-Pierre, for instance, who regularly went the distance, shouldn’t lose points for this in the bigger picture.
However, it is fair to base a fighter’s greatness on how much they dominate their opponents, even if they don’t always finish them. To that extent, Amanda Nunes dominates her foes like no other female fighter.
Prior to her loss to Julianna Pena in 2021, which she later avenged, the only fighter to even test ‘The Lioness’ since her 2016 bantamweight title win was Valentina Shevchenko.
Outside of ‘Bullet’, nobody came close. Nunes simply blasted her way through the likes of Ronda Rousey and Holly Holm, and dominated Germaine de Randamie and Felicia Spencer for five full rounds.
At times, most of Nunes’ victims haven’t looked like belong in the same octagon as her, and yet most of them could be considered great fighters in their own right.
With that considered, it’s hard not to consider her the female GOAT in MMA.
#1. Amanda Nunes has defeated seven former UFC champions
The accomplishment that puts Amanda Nunes not only above every other female fighter in UFC and MMA history, but above most male fighters in MMA history too is the number of former UFC champions she’s defeated.
Most fighters don’t even manage to defeat one former UFC champion during their career, while some legends – Chuck Liddell, for instance – might hold wins over two or three.
Nunes, remarkably, has beaten no fewer than seven former UFC champions during her time with the promotion.
Those victims include Valentina Shevchenko, the consensus flyweight GOAT, four bantamweight titleholders (Miesha Tate, Ronda Rousey, Holly Holm and Julianna Pena) and two featherweight titleholders (Germaine de Randamie and Cris Cyborg).
More incredibly, ‘The Lioness’ has overcome Shevchenko and de Randamie twice, and managed to finish five of those former champions before the final buzzer.
When you add in her pre-UFC win over former Bellator featherweight titleholder Julia Budd, it’s easy to see that Nunes’ record is simply unmatched in female MMA. She’s the GOAT, and nobody else really comes close.
