The first female winner vs winner fight has been booked. Amanda”The Lioness” Nunes is currently making the move upward from the bantamweight division to shoot on Cristiane”Cyborg” Justino from the featherweight division at UFC 232 on December 29 in California. Oddsmakers have Cyborg launching as a -250 favorite with all The Lioness coming back at +195 for this superfight from the women’s divisions.
The -260 line for Cyborg may jump at you as a deal, as in her previous five fights at the Octagon she’s been an average -1619 favorite. What I find interesting about the current chances is that Cyborg entered the fight against Holly Holm as a -275 favorite and that I believe Nunes has a much better opportunity to sneak the featherweight belt from Cyborg compared to Holm actually did. Both have been verbally jousting for weeks and now the conversation ends when the two conflict later this year.
Nunes in Featherweight
Although Cyborg are the larger woman from the Octagon when both match, Nunes had success at featherweight in her past. She competed in the featherweight division to start her career where she published a record of 6-1. All six victories for The Lioness from the 145-pound branch came by knockout, including wins within Ediane Gomes and Julia Budd.
Nunes has her difficulties cutting on the weight at 135 lbs and has appeared to be the bigger woman in all of her fights at bantamweight. The Brazilian is currently riding a seven-fight winning streak and has defended her belt four times, completing her competitor three of these times, such as a fifth-round TKO over Raquel Pennington in UFC 224.
Can Cyborg vs NUNES perform?
This is certain to be a standup war between both Brazilians with 17 of Cyborg’s 20 victories coming by means of T/KO and 11 of Nunes’ 16 wins coming the identical way. With two fighters coming to struggle with fictitious knockout power, it’s tough to provide the advantage one way or the other. Cyborg will use her size and strength to try to corner Nunes and search for the finish. The Curitiba native is methodical and aggressive, landing 7.02 strikes per minute while defending 70 percent of strikes against. Cyborg hasn’t suffered a loss since her first professional fight in 2005 when she was halted by a kneebar. She’s won five consecutive UFC struggles including defending her belt twice.
Nunes’ road to victory over Cyborg may come on the mat. The Lioness averages 1.82 takedowns a 15 minutes and it’s in her very best interest to steer clear of Cyborg’s power in the standup game. Two of Nunes’ four losses have come by way of TKO/KO, most recently being halted by Cat Zingano in UFC 178. The Bahia native will look for her leg kicks to slow Cyborg down and secure the takedown where she can work her impressive floor and pound to become the first woman two-division champion.
Read more: montanayouthrugby.org
