The very first champion vs champion fight has officially been booked. Amanda”The Lioness” Nunes is currently making the move up from the bantamweight division to shoot on Cristiane”Cyborg” Justino in the featherweight division at UFC 232 on December 29 in California. Oddsmakers have Cyborg opening as a -250 favorite using all The Lioness coming back at +195 with this superfight in the women’s divisions.
The -260 line for Cyborg may jump in you as a deal, as in her past five fights at the Octagon she’s been an average -1619 favorite. What I find interesting about the present chances is that Cyborg entered the fight against Holly Holm as a -275 favorite and I believe Nunes has a much better chance to steal the featherweight belt from Cyborg compared to Holm actually did. Both have been jousting for weeks and the conversation ends when both battle later this year.
Nunes at Featherweight
Although Cyborg will be the bigger woman from the Octagon when both match, Nunes had success at featherweight in her past. She competed in the featherweight division to begin her career where she published a record of 6-1. All six victories for The Lioness in the 145-pound division came by knockout, including wins over Ediane Gomes and Julia Budd.
Nunes has her difficulties cutting on the weight at 135 lbs and has appeared to be the larger woman in all of her fights at bantamweight. The Brazilian is riding a seven-fight winning series and has defended her belt four times, finishing her opponent three of these times, such as a fifth-round TKO over Raquel Pennington in UFC 224.
How will Cyborg vs NUNES perform?
This is certain to be a standup war between both Brazilians with 17 of Cyborg’s 20 victories coming by means of T/KO and 11 of Nunes’ 16 wins coming the same manner. Together with two fighters coming to battle with legit knockout power, it is tough to give the edge one way or another. Cyborg will use her size and strength to attempt and corner Nunes and look for the finish. The Curitiba native is methodical and competitive, landing 7.02 strikes per minute while protecting 70 percent of strikes against. Cyborg hasn’t suffered a loss since her very first pro fight in 2005 when she had been halted by a kneebar. She has won five consecutive UFC struggles including defending her belt twice.
Nunes’ road to victory over Cyborg may come to the mat. The Lioness averages 1.82 takedowns a 15 minutes and it is in her very best interest to stay away from Cyborg’s power from the standup game. Two of Nunes’ four losses came by way of TKO/KO, most recently being stopped by Cat Zingano at UFC 178. The Bahia native may look to her leg kicks to slow Cyborg down and fasten the takedown where she can work her impressive ground and pound to become the first girl two-division champion.
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