Amanda Lorenzo Nunez is a Brazilian mixed martial artist nicknamed Lioness. She currently competes in the UFC, where she is reigning featherweight champion. She is also a former bantamweight champion.

The first female fighter to become UFC champion in 2 divisions, and 3 fighter in UFC history to hold titles in 2divisions at the same time, after Conor McGregor and Daniel Cormier. She is also the first and only UFC fighter to defend two titles in two divisions. Nunes is considered one of the greatest female fighters in MMA history.

What is the background of Amanda Nunes?

Nunes was born on May 30, 1988, in the Brazilian city of Salvador, Bahia. At the age of four, she began to practice karate. As a child, the future federation champion was an active child and often got into street battles with other children.

Initially, she dreamed of becoming a pro footballer. She was even a member of the football club, first of her school, and then of El Salvador. However, Amanda’s football career did not take place due to the decision of mother. She wanted her daughter to concentrate exclusively on studies.

However, Lioness did not give up the sport and at the age of 16, she began to practice Brazilian jiu-jitsu. As a teenager, she also began to get involved in boxing. Despite being only female in the training room, Lorenzo dominated sparring sessions with men.

At the age of 18, Lorenzo began studying at famous Edson Carvalho Academy. At the same age, the future federation champion began to master judo.

Considering that Amanda’s apartment was too far from the training hall, she decided to live right in facility. During this period of time, the nickname known today was attached – “Lioness”. The thing is that the logo of the Carvalho Academy is 2 lions.

At the age of 20, she began competing in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournaments. In 2008, she became American champion in this sport. A year later, Lioness won the victory already at the World Championships. At the same time, the Brazilian debuted in MMA.

Start of professional career

She had a fight as a pro in March 2008 at the second Prime MMA Championship tournament. Nunes lost ahead of schedule – Ana Maria held a submission hold on her arm in the 1 round. The Brazilian won the next 5 fights by knockouts, which led to a contract with the Strikeforce promotion.

In January 2011, she made a debut there with a knockout victory in just 14 seconds. This was followed by a second early defeat. Alexis Davis switched to full mount and finished a tired Lorenzo with punches.

Then she continued to perform at Invicta FC. In July 2012, she finished a debut battle ahead of schedule in the first round, but in the second battle, which took place in January 2013, she suffered the third defeat in her career – Sarah D’Alelio tried hard. This time – according to the results of the referee’s decision.

Records and accomplishments

In the first fight, which was included in the official statistics of Nunes, the Brazilian lost to Anna Maria of India already at 35 seconds of the fight! Two and a half months later, Lioness returned to the octagon and showed a level. The battle against Pati Barbosa ended already at 11 seconds! This was followed by 4 consecutive victories by technical knockouts.

Nunes had a fight outside of Brazil in January 2011 in the US city of Nashville. She made her debut in the Strikeforce organization. In the initial battle, she knocked out Canadian Julia Budd in 14 seconds. In the next battle in the Strikeforce tournament, the Brazilian lost by technical knockout to Canadian Alexis Davis.

On July 28, 2012, Nunes debuted for the Invicta organization. In the fight against American Raquel Paaluhi, she won by knockout as a result of technical strangulation.

Despite the loss in the next battle, in the spring of 2013, Lioness signed a contract with the UFC. The debut in this organization was successful – Amanda defeated the German Sheila Gaff.

On September 27, 2014, the last battle took place at moment, in which Lorenzo turned out to be weaker than the rival. In the third round at UFC 178, the Brazilian lost to American Cat Zingano. This was followed by 3 consecutive victories, including over Valentina Shevchenko.

On July 9, 2016, the first championship battle of Lorenzo took place. The Brazilian knocked out the reigning champion Misha Tate and won the federation title for the first time in career. She has retained this title for over 5 years. During this time, Lorenzo defended her champion status 5 times.

She also became the UFC Featherweight Champion on December 29, 2018. Lorenzo managed to knock out a compatriot Christiana Justina already in the 51st second of the fight.

Last fight

The UFC bantamweight queen is back on the throne. In Texas, Lorenzo again became the champion in this weight category. The Brazilian athlete managed to confidently defeat Pena. The duel with the Americans was the second for the South Americans.

Earlier, in the first battle, which was held at the end of last year, in the status of an obvious favorite, was strangled by a rival. Lorenzo got revenge quickly. About six months have passed, and she is again the strongest in the bantamweight division. This time, she managed to justify the status assigned
(the bookmakers set odds of 1.30 for a victory in the pre-match).

The battle proceeded under the total control of Lioness. She took into account the lessons of the first battle against Julianne. This time, the Brazilian went into the fight less, attacked in the left stance, and very often worked with deuces. The South American plan worked.

Nunes literally smashed Peña. And in the truest sense of the word. It was hard to look at the face of the already ex-champion after the fifth round. Note that the judges gave the victory to Amanda by unanimous decision. Thus, thanks to victory today, Lioness proved that one more fight against Valentina Shevchenko has the right to life.

Personal life of Amanda Nunes

She is an open lesbian, and her daughter’s mother is also federation fighter Nina Ansaroff. Nunes and Nina Ansaroff have been dating since 2012. They first saw each other in a gym in Miami – Nina was new and got into sparring with a Brazilian.

Nunes lashed out and knocked her down – and later admitted that she was too aggressive because she wanted to hurt the new girl. Ansaroff was a few pounds lighter, and Amanda saw her as a punching bag. Another body to destroy.

After that, Nina even thought about leaving the hall. But the girls did not notice how the rivalry grew into friendship. And soon into something more.

Since then, the girls have been inseparable: Lorenzo has become the most dominant female fighter in history, and Ansaroff competes in the minimum weight, where she is in fifth place in the rankings with a record of 10-6. Women admit that they are not only a couple but also best friends – they train in the ATT (American Top Team) gym and do not part for a second.

In March 2020, Lorenzo shared a joy on Instagram – her partner is pregnant. Lorenzo dreamed of a child and now glows with happiness. She almost does not part with daughter – social networks are inundated with cute photos.

In interviews, she often appears with the baby and admits that she enjoys life. She does not part with the toddler even in training – she takes baby to the gym. The champion is sure that this helps because the presence of a daughter makes her happy.

Amanda Nunes’s performance in the last years

In May 2018 at UFC 224, she stopped Raquel Pennington in the 5th round and defended title for the third time. In the main event of UFC 232, Lorenzo entered the cage against compatriot, featherweight champion Christiana “Cyborg” Justino. Amanda stopped Justino in just 51 seconds and became the first federation champion in two categories.

At UFC 239, she returned to bantamweight and defended the title by knocking out ex-champion Holly Holm in the first round. In December, at UFC 245, Lorenzo made another successful defense of the bantamweight title – Germain de Randamier was defeated after 5 rounds.

In the main event of UFC 250 in June 2020, Lioness made the first featherweight title defense. Felicia Spencer was unable to compete with the eminent rival in any of the five rounds and lost by a crushing decision from the judges.

On March 6, 2021, Lorenzo made a second title defense in the featherweight division. In the second most important battle
of UFC 259, Lioness forced Australian Megan Anderson to surrender in the first round.

Meetings statistics:

What are the strong and weak sides of Amanda Nunes?

Lorenzo is considered the epitome of an MMA fighter. Most likely, you will remember her if you are asked about the ideal balanced MMA fighter.

Use also say that this woman almost single-handedly holds the victory in two leagues and even battles in which she was defeated are more the exception than the rule. So let’s take a look at what makes the strongest fighter in the league and what weaknesses caused some losses.

Nunes’ strongest point during the fight is her striking. Incredible physical form and well-thought-out fighting strategy allow her to destroy the opponents with strong blows.

As soon as Lioness sees the gaps in the opponent’s defense and strikes the first blow, she cannot be stopped. Thanks to this flurry of blows of the hands in combination with the legs, the opponents fall into the ring.

Incredible physical strength is also a distinguishing feature of Amanda. She is an order of magnitude stronger than a large number of fighters in the league. Another reason why Lorenzo became a champion is an incredible wrestling skill. Although she usually won by knocking out opponents, there is no doubting in fighting skills as a black belt in judo.

If we talk about weaknesses, experts note that Lioness is not a very durable fighter. if the fight lasts more than 1 round, it clearly affects the quality of Amanda’s blows and attacks. Therefore, in fights that last a full number of rounds, Lioness looks insecure toward the end.

Another weakness of Amanda is a predictable fighting style. She spent almost all of a fights on the same scheme, but nevertheless, this scheme works because even when her opponent knows what she will do, he cannot resist.

How to bet on Amanda Nunes?

The optimal strategy for betting on the federation – when it comes to beginner players – is to move from simple to complex. But with a good knowledge of mixed martial arts, a novice bettor can become a stable plus very quickly.

Mandatory conditions are viewing all important tournaments, tracking statistics, and maintaining your own “dossier” on fighters. Knowing the capabilities of two individual athletes, it is possible with a high degree of probability to predict the result of their face-to-face confrontation. Factors such as:

• the age of the fighters, their track records;
• current place in the ranking of your weight category;
• the ratio of wins and losses over the past few years;
• basic styles;
• percentage of early wins (knockout, tricks)!

Where to bet on MMA?

Effective UFC betting strategies are half the fight. No less important is the right choice of a bookmaker for a permanent game. All major bookmakers include tournaments from the UFC and other fighting organizations in their lines.

But bettors are attracted by operators with the best bet selection and favorable odds. Therefore, we recommend you the following bookmakers: Parimatch, Melbet, Royal Panda, VBet, Betwinner. They have live streaming and a loyalty program, which will help with betting.