5 Best Amanda Nunes MMA fights

#4 Amanda Nunes vs. Cat Zingano

Amanda Nunes’ uncontrolled aggression led her to getting gassed out in her TKO loss to Alexis Davis in 2011, as well as in her decision loss to Sarah D’Alelio in 2013.

Regardless, her aforementioned loss to Davis was sort of written off, since that was Nunes’ first fight at 135 pounds. Additionally, the D’Alelio decision was noted as yet another part of the learning process and nothing more.

However, by the time Nunes faced Cat Zingano at UFC 178 in 2014, The Lioness was viewed as one of the biggest threats to then-champion “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey. Nunes and Zingano were, at that point of time, considered to be the ones who could possibly dethrone Rousey—particularly due to their high-level Muay Thai skills.

Nunes stunned Zingano on the feet—courtesy her well-refined boxing skills—before landing brutal ground-and-pound on the latter in Round 1. Regardless, Nunes’ cardio issues coupled with her wild fighting style, caused her to gas out early in this matchup.

Zingano then rag-dolled Nunes in the clinch—landing several nasty elbows and knees. She then threw Nunes around with a variety of beautifully executed suplexes.

The fight being 1-1 heading into the third and final round, Zingano once again took Nunes down and stopped her with a brutal barrage of elbows and punches on the ground.

While Nunes may have lost that fight, it turned out to be a great learning point in her career—following which she worked tremendously hard on her cardio issues and tweaked her fighting style to that of a more measured kind of aggression. Either way, Nunes’ showdown with Zingano is regarded as one of the greatest Women’s MMA fights of all time.