The Film Room: Amanda Nunes
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Simultaneous two-division Ultimate Fighting Championship titleholder Amanda Nunes will return to the Octagon to defend her bantamweight crown against former champion Holly Holm in the UFC 239 co-headliner on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Stoppage wins over Ronda Rousey, Cristiane Justino and Miesha Tate, along with two decision victories over Valentina Shevchenko, have positioned Nunes for consideration as the greatest female mixed martial artist of all-time.
The exploits of the “Lioness” are under the microscope in this
installment of The Film Room.
What makes Nunes’ striking so interesting is her ability to stay patient and technically proficient while being the aggressor. Generally, aggressive fighters are vulnerable to elite counterstrikers, but Nunes knows how to intelligently pressure opponents while never putting herself out of position to defend. She uses feints and misdirection before every combo and always looks to take a dominant angle. These feints allow her to set up the strikes she is actively throwing, but it also allows her to read reactions to them so she can set traps later in the fight. She also never gets too wild and generally does not throw more than three to four strikes at a time before resetting and looking for more openings. Something else to notice is her frequent use of angles on the lead. In the open guard, she prefers taking an angle to her left to set up the right straight from an orthodox stance, and in the closed guard, she likes to take an inside angle to land her jabs and lead hooks.
Nunes keeps a light bounce to her stance which allows her to cover distance quickly on the lead, but it can also be effective on the counter. She is usually the leading attacker, but she does have a nice dipping counter rear hook that she uses a lot. She also occasionally counters an opponent’s forward movement with a quick leg kick. While counter leg kicks are not as prevalent in MMA, they are quite popular in kickboxing and muay Thai. Holm is one of the most patient fighters in the division, so it seems unlikely that we will see many of Nunes’ counters. Nevertheless, she can be effective on both ends of the striking exchanges.
Despite all of her accomplishments, Nunes still has her fair share of defensive holes. Other than a ground-and-pound TKO loss to Cat Zingano earlier in her career, Nunes has only looked mortal against one woman inside the Octagon: Shevchenko. Their two-fight series was competitive, and Shevchenko arguably did enough to beat her in the rematch. Although she was much smaller, Shevchenko managed to routinely counter Nunes’ forward pressure, even landing a few takedowns before beating her up on the ground. Though not as elite as Shevchenko, Holm is also a good counterstriker, so if Nunes recklessly comes forward, she could find herself in trouble.
Nunes is predominantly a striker, but she does possess an underrated grappling game. Although she was controlled on the ground by Shevchenko and Zingano, she has shown great transitional grappling to get back to her feet or reverse position. She usually only goes for takedowns when they are wide open and will not shoot for double- or single-leg attempts from a mile away. Once she gets opponents to the mat, Nunes has tremendous ground-and-pound and has dominated with it in the past.
Nunes only looks to finish the fight once it hits the mat, and she rarely concerns herself with improving position. Why? She knowns technical prowess on the ground means nothing if you can simply posture up and throw punches until the ref steps in. Nunes is the all-around superior fighter, but if she finds herself in trouble on the feet, watch for some takedowns and relentless ground-and-pound.
Simultaneous two-division Ultimate Fighting Championship titleholder Amanda Nunes will return to the Octagon to defend her bantamweight crown against former champion Holly Holm in the UFC 239 co-headliner on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Stoppage wins over Ronda Rousey, Cristiane Justino and Miesha Tate, along with two decision victories over Valentina Shevchenko, have positioned Nunes for consideration as the greatest female mixed martial artist of all-time.
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Nunes was an underdog against Rousey and “Cyborg,” but she starched
both women in under a minute to push her legacy to historic
heights. She is known for her pressure striking, but it was a
perfectly timed counter right hook that stunned Justino and set up
the finishing sequence. Against Rousey, Nunes clearly did not
respect the judoka’s striking and pressed forward with overhand
rights and lead hooks that sent the onetime champion into
retirement. For years, the big debate centered on whether Rousey or
Justino was the better fighter. Nunes made them look like
amateurs.
What makes Nunes’ striking so interesting is her ability to stay patient and technically proficient while being the aggressor. Generally, aggressive fighters are vulnerable to elite counterstrikers, but Nunes knows how to intelligently pressure opponents while never putting herself out of position to defend. She uses feints and misdirection before every combo and always looks to take a dominant angle. These feints allow her to set up the strikes she is actively throwing, but it also allows her to read reactions to them so she can set traps later in the fight. She also never gets too wild and generally does not throw more than three to four strikes at a time before resetting and looking for more openings. Something else to notice is her frequent use of angles on the lead. In the open guard, she prefers taking an angle to her left to set up the right straight from an orthodox stance, and in the closed guard, she likes to take an inside angle to land her jabs and lead hooks.
Nunes keeps a light bounce to her stance which allows her to cover distance quickly on the lead, but it can also be effective on the counter. She is usually the leading attacker, but she does have a nice dipping counter rear hook that she uses a lot. She also occasionally counters an opponent’s forward movement with a quick leg kick. While counter leg kicks are not as prevalent in MMA, they are quite popular in kickboxing and muay Thai. Holm is one of the most patient fighters in the division, so it seems unlikely that we will see many of Nunes’ counters. Nevertheless, she can be effective on both ends of the striking exchanges.
Despite all of her accomplishments, Nunes still has her fair share of defensive holes. Other than a ground-and-pound TKO loss to Cat Zingano earlier in her career, Nunes has only looked mortal against one woman inside the Octagon: Shevchenko. Their two-fight series was competitive, and Shevchenko arguably did enough to beat her in the rematch. Although she was much smaller, Shevchenko managed to routinely counter Nunes’ forward pressure, even landing a few takedowns before beating her up on the ground. Though not as elite as Shevchenko, Holm is also a good counterstriker, so if Nunes recklessly comes forward, she could find herself in trouble.
Nunes is predominantly a striker, but she does possess an underrated grappling game. Although she was controlled on the ground by Shevchenko and Zingano, she has shown great transitional grappling to get back to her feet or reverse position. She usually only goes for takedowns when they are wide open and will not shoot for double- or single-leg attempts from a mile away. Once she gets opponents to the mat, Nunes has tremendous ground-and-pound and has dominated with it in the past.
Nunes only looks to finish the fight once it hits the mat, and she rarely concerns herself with improving position. Why? She knowns technical prowess on the ground means nothing if you can simply posture up and throw punches until the ref steps in. Nunes is the all-around superior fighter, but if she finds herself in trouble on the feet, watch for some takedowns and relentless ground-and-pound.
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