‘Underdog’ Nunes makes history in 51s
Amanda Nunes pulled off one of the most surprising wins in mixed martial arts history when she left the world’s most feared female fighter face-down on the canvas.
Jon Jones merely did exactly what everyone expects him to do whenever he manages to get out of his own way.
Nunes knocked out Cris “Cyborg” Justino 51 seconds into the first round at UFC 232 on Sunday, ending the featherweight champion’s 13-year unbeaten run in spectacular fashion.
Jones also reclaimed his light heavyweight title in his return from a 17-month cage absence.
The two-time champion stopped Alexander Gustafsson with strikes on the ground in the third round.
Nunes (17-4), the UFC’s bantamweight champion, made history after she fearlessly moved up 10 pounds to challenge Justino (20-2), widely considered the most accomplished female fighter in MMA.
The undersized underdog dominated her fellow Brazilian from the start, buckling Justino’s knees and knocking her down twice before landing the overhand right that ended it.
“Nothing was going to stop me from what I wanted to do,” Nunes said. “When she connected with a couple of punches, I just said, ‘I’m going to walk right through her’.”
Nunes is the third fighter in UFC history to hold two titles simultaneously, joining Conor McGregor and Daniel Cormier.
“I knew this was happening, I told you all,” Nunes said.
“I’m the new ‘champ-champ.’ I said that before, and now I’m just achieving this dream.”
Just six days after the UFC moved the entire 232 card from Las Vegas to the famous Forum south of downtown Los Angeles, Jones (23-1, 1 no-contest) closed the show with a methodical dismantling of Gustafsson (18-5).
The bout was a rematch of Jones’ toughest fight, a thrilling decision in 2013 over Gustafsson.
The UFC made the extraordinary decision to move its show 450km to California during a holiday week just to keep Jones on the card.
The former champion recently tested positive for low levels of a banned steroid but California regulatory officials didn’t consider the result serious enough to keep the longtroubled star out of the octagon, while Nevada’s commission did.
The 31-year-old Jones had fought only twice in the previous 47 months, losing a huge chunk of his fighting prime due to his misbehaviour.