It’s hard to think of many women who could possess enough power to threaten Cris Cyborg. But, amid talks of a super fight, there are those who believe that fellow UFC champ Amanda Nunes could be it.
That group includes someone who would know a thing or two about the punch packed by Nunes.
“I think Amanda could be the one to beat Cyborg,” former UFC bantamweight champion Miesha Tate told MMAjunkie. “The reason that I say that is because I’ve been hit by Amanda. I’ve never been hit by Cyborg, and I’m sure she hits like a truck, but I can definitely attest to the power that Amanda has and she’s deceptively lengthy.
“She’s very long. You think you’re out of her range and you’re not. She’s someone who could actually probably hurt Cyborg.”
Tate, as we know, suffered a devastating loss to Nunes when they shared the octagon, at UFC 200. The first-round submission, which followed some bloodying and battering, cost Tate the UFC’s women’s 135-pound belt. She would go on to retire not long after that, following a unanimous-decision loss to Raquel Pennington.
Nunes, on her end, would go on to defend the bantamweight belt another three times, with dominant TKO wins over ex-champ Ronda Rousey and Pennington – and a razor-thin split decision to Valentina Shevchenko sandwiched in between.
Nunes (16-4 MMA, 9-1 UFC) is now officially unbooked in the UFC, but the expectation is that she’ll get a chance to take a stab at her second belt, in a champ vs. champ bout with women’s featherweight titleholder Cyborg (20-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC).
The meeting between Brazil’s remaining UFC champions has been talked about for quite some time, but the date remains a point of contention; Nunes has been pushing for a December date, specifically UFC 232, while Cyborg says that’s too far into the future and had originally aimed for a UFC 228 meeting in September.
Cyborg has dominantly beaten all of her competition in the octagon. The only one who was able to take her to a decision was former 135-pound champion Holly Holm; Cyborg’s last decision before that was in 2008. Nevertheless, Nunes provides an intriguing matchup and has been regarded as, on paper, one of Cyborg’s stiffest career challenges.
Should the two finally come to terms on an octagon date, Cyborg would obviously hold one advantage: size While Nunes has had experiences at featherweight, she’s made the 135-pound division her home and had even talked about maybe taking a stab at flyweight in the past. Cyborg, in turn, has only gone as low as 140 pounds – and that proved to be a massive cut.
Tate is aware that Nunes will be the smaller one coming into the possible super fight and believes the odds will be in Cyborg’s favor. But that doesn’t mean we should be sleeping on “The Lioness.”
“Cyborg, I don’t think has ever really had to respect the power that another woman possesses standing across from her,” Tate said. “Or least she never seems to have. With Amanda, that’s different. She needs to respect the power of Amanda, because if she goes in there and walks in straight like she does most other girls, she could really get hurt. With that being said, Amanda is a 135-er. She’s smaller.
“Cyborg is the woman to beat. I think odds are still in Cyborg’s favor, but Amanda does possess the ability to hurt and stop Cyborg. I think she has the ability to hurt and stop a lot of men. So, with that being said, I don’t think it would be a mistake on her part to go up to 145 and take on the biggest challenge that there is.
To hear Tate’s thoughts on the state of the UFC’s remaining women’s divisions, including how Claudia Gadelha could pose a threat to the “breath of fresh air” that is 115-pound champ Rose Namajunas and how pressure might play into Nicco Montano’s flyweight title defense vs. Shevchenko, check out the video above.
And for more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.