The powerful Brazilian with two UFC division belts pummelled the Las Vegas -based promotion’s biggest mainstream star, armbar specialist/movie star Ronda Rousey.
She took less than a minute to defeat the “unbeatable” Cyborg — Cris Justino.
And at UFC 239 Saturday night in Las Vegas, bantamweight/featherweight champ Amanda Nunes completed the hat trick of big-time headliner wins with a knockout win over Holly Holm by a vicious kick to the head in the first round and then a punch that polished off the taller Holm.
The 31-year-old Nunes is now in her fighting prime, lording over UFC women’s fighters in a way that Rousey was unable to achieve.
Yet, Nunes has not received the promotional love enjoyed by Rousey because UFC promotes fight show events over individual fighters.
Amanda Nunes
Just over 900 days ago, Nunes destroyed Rousey, the once-great marketing juggernaut perched on top of the UFC female fighter universe. Leading up to that Dec. 2016 card in Las Vegas, Nunes had four losses at the time and was considered an afterthought for Rousey.
At the time of the Dec. 30, 2016 UFC show, Rousey headlined the card — no co-main headliner here at UFC 207 — and the numbers proved Rousey’s money-making powers with a final gate of $4.75 million with attendance of 18,533 at T-Mobile Arena. On Saturday at UFC 239, Nunes helped draw a sellout crowd of more than 18,000 MMA fans with a gate of more than $6 million. “Pound for pound, she’s one of the greatest of all time,” UFC President Dana White said of Nunes. White said a Nunes rematch with Cyborg could be in UFC’s future.
Amanda Nunes after defeating Ronda Rousey
After Nunes defeated the previously-undefeated Cyborg at UFC 232 in late December, it marked the first time a woman held two division titles simultaneously.
Although there are outliers like Rousey, Conor McGregor and Jon Jones, UFC primarily focuses on events now promoted on platforms such as ESPN+ and not individual fighters such as the powerful Nunes.
“UFC’s marketing of women fighters has definitely changed. You see I’m the first female fighter to have two belts in two divisions. People want to see that. People want to see what the UFC is going to do with that,” Nunes told LVSportsBiz.com during the week leading up to UFC 239.
Nunes noted her ability to communicate in English has improved and she’s also bolstering her social media footprint. Here’s the official score card of Nunes’ fight:
UFC President Dana White said Amanda Nunes is a star in the fight game, but it could take time for Nunes to blossom into a big marketing star. “For some people it takes a little longer. It’s different with different people.”
Amanda Nunes chatting with the media late Saturday night.
Recently inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame, Rashad Evans told LVSportsBiz.com Saturday that Nunes would be a good candidate to be a personable conduit to the gay community because Nunes is openly gay. Nunes has a girlfriend, Nina Ansaroff, who is the number three-ranked strawweight in UFC.
In addition to being a historic champion with a very humble, down-to-earth and approachable personality, Nunes has been a strong ambassador for the gay community, a strong demographic that UFC can tap into when promoting her.
Evans offered these thoughts:
While Holm also defeated the UFC megastar Rousey, the 37-year-old New Mexican benefitted from a UFC marketing push though she does not exude the personable warmth that Nunes projects. After Holm knocked out Rousey in Australia in Nov. 2015, Holm went on a three-fight losing streak to upper-echelon fighters in her bantamweight division. She also lost to Justino in 2017 before Nunes wiped out Cyborg to win her second division belt six months ago. For all her big wins and her down-to-earth demeanor, Nunes does not have any companies paying her to promote their products.
Her challenge is that because she is Brazilian born, Nunes has yet to crack the U.S. promotional market to draw lucrative sponsorships. It should be noted that some female athletes like Serena Williams earn tens of millions of dollars in sponsorship deals from major corporations and that sponsor money actually surpasses the cash they win from competition.
When Nunes knocked out Cyborg to win the second belt, her fight purse was reported to be $350,000 compared to Cyborg garnering $500,000 for losing the bout.
At 31, Nunes is in the prime of her career in the octagon and potentially in the sponsorship forum. She has defeated Rousey, Tate, Cyborg and now Holm. If UFC is going to capitalize on Nunes’ star power, now is the time.
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Nunes post-win: “This feels amazing. People say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but this belt is going home with me. During my warmup, I knew I was going to get her. I told my coaches I wanted to knock her out the same way she knocks people out. I did it tonight. She was the only former champion I didn’t beat yet. Now, I beat her and I’m very happy. . . I definitely want to defend my 145 pound belt next.”
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Light heavyweight champ Jon Jones defeated Thiago Santos via split decision.
Alan Snel brings decades of sports-business reporting experience to LVSportsBiz.com.
Snel covered the business side of sports for the South Florida (Fort Lauderdale) Sun-Sentinel, the Tampa Tribune and Las Vegas Review-Journal. As a city hall beat reporter, Snel also covered stadium deals in Denver and Seattle.
In 2000, Snel launched a sport-business website for FoxSports.com called FoxSportsBiz.com.
After reporting sports-business for the RJ, Snel wrote hard-hitting stories on the Raiders stadium for the Desert Companion magazine in Las Vegas and The Nevada Independent.
Snel is also one of the top bicycle advocates in the country.
