Hard-hitting Brazilian veteran Amanda “Lioness” Nunes achieved her dream of becoming a UFC champion with a sensational victory tonight at UFC 200: “Tate vs Nunes” in Las Vegas, Nevada. Nunes destroyed Miesha “Cupcake” Tate in the main event to become UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion.
Tonight’s quick and devastating victory was unquestionably Nunes’s most impressive performance to date, and she now becomes the latest woman to hold the 135-pound title. Her first challenger may be TUF 18 winner Julianna “The Venezuelan Vixen” Peña, who defeated “Alpha” Cat Zingano tonight.
Nunes (13-4-0) was aggressive right from the opening bell and she scored with an early jab and a hard leg kick that got Tate’s (18-6-0) attention. Tate began to shoot in for takedowns, but she could only get Nunes down for a split second and ate a knee as the fight returned to the feet. Seconds later, Nunes stunned Tate with jabs and right hands, and she swarmed on her with a big flurry.
Tate fell to the mat, but she recovered and battled back to her feet as Nunes looked for a finish. She rocked Tate with a knee and a right hand, then took her back after a badly bloodied Tate dove in for a desperation takedown. Nunes sunk in both hooks and locked on a rear-naked choke that forced a battered and beaten Tate to tap out.
Tonight’s thrilling win improved Nunes’s UFC record to a stellar 6-1, with four straight victories since her September 2014 loss to Zingano in a fight that she was winning at UFC 178. All but one of Nunes’s wins inside the Octagon have come inside the distance. Former champion Tate announced that she will take a short period of time off before returning to training in pursuit of another title shot.
Winner: Amanda Nunes by Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) at 3:16 of round one. She improves to 13-4-0 and becomes the new UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion.
Peña (8-2-0) kept her unblemished UFC record intact with the biggest victory of her career tonight in a bantamweight title eliminator against former championship challenger Zingano (9-2-0), who suffered her second straight defeat in what was her first fight back since falling to “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey.
Peña and Zingano battled back and forth for takedowns in the opening round, and Zingano ultimately prevailed in top position while pinning Peña against the base of the cage. Peña remained very active from the bottom and she landed numerous palm strikes to the sides of Zingano’s face. Zingano fought off an armbar and she narrowly stole the round by landing punches and elbows in the final minute.
Rounds two and three clearly belonged to Peña, who took Zingano down and dominated the action on the mat. Zingano’s lone offence came in the form of brief inverted triangle and arm-triangle choke attempts in round two, which Peña easily thwarted and countered with a neck crank. Peña worked for rear-naked chokes throughout round three and, while she defended well each time, Zingano was forced to play defence until the final bell.
Scores were 29-28 across the board for Peña, who has racked up three key victories in the UFC since winning The Ultimate Fighter 18 in late 2013. The talented 26-year-old is expected to move on to challenge for the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship later this year.
Winner: Julianna Peña by Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) after three rounds. She improves to 8-2-0.
(Photo Credit: UFC)