There is a short list of potential candidates for greatest female mixed martial arts fighter of all time, that includes Gina Carano, Cris Cyborg, Megumi Fuji, Amanda Nunes, Ronda Rousey, and the consensus choice is Cyborg. However, UFC women’s bantamweight champion Nunes fights the featherweight champ Cyborg at UFC 232 on December 29 in Las Vegas, and during an interview with Guilherme Cruz for MMA Fighting, The Lioness argued persuasively, that with a win, she’s the G.O.A.T.
“For sure,” she emphasized. “That’s the reason why I made this decision to move up a division. I want fans to remember me like that. Winning on December 29, I won’t ever leave fans’ heads, that’s for sure. Achieving that, being the only Brazilian woman to become two-division champion… The only woman, the only Brazilian, will be a huge achievement. It’s a big fight, a fight that will make history, and I will come out victorious one more time.”
“I was chatting to my coaches, Nina [Ansaroff] was there as well, and this idea came up. Din Thomas told me, ‘You have to do something different, you have to make history,’ something like that, and I said he was right. Some time after, Din Thomas said in an interview, ‘Amanda will fight Cris.’ I was like, ‘You know what, man, that conversation happened for a reason.’ It’s happened at the right time because my division is still moving and still needs some fights to really decide the next top contender for me. Cris’ division has nothing happening as well, there’s no one in that division, and the UFC kind of has its hands tied with that division.”
Nunes reports that she is 165 right now, and will be comfortable fighting at 145.