Following her dominant signature victory over Ronda Rousey last weekend at UFC 207 in Las Vegas, UFC bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes believes ‘Rowdy’ was always over rated.
It took the Brazilian just 48 seconds to blast through Rousey, landing 27 significant strikes before the referee waived it off declaring Nunes the winner by TKO and in turn making her the first title holder since Ronda to successful defend the women’s 135lb championship.
Now the dust has settled on the fight, and what seems inevitably to be Rousey’s MMA career, Nunes believes she was essentially mostly all hype and is an opponent she could’ve beaten much earlier in her UFC campaign if given the chance.
“Since my first fight in UFC, I could have beaten Ronda Rousey, but of course I had to take my time and put everything together,” Nunes told TMZ. “That was the day to prove it to everybody.”
The champion, who fights out of American Top Team in Florida, went further by saying she had to prepare harder for the Miesha Tate fight at UFC 200 – when she captured the title – than she did for the women’s MMA pioneer.
“My camp before Miesha Tate was harder than training for Ronda,” Nunes added. “Ronda is overrated, for sure. UFC made it that way. Since I saw her first fight I knew I could beat her. I don’t understand how she went so far in this division. I don’t understand how those girls lost to her.”
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