Serenaded by a chorus of boos, Amanda "The Lioness" Nunes emerged from the tunnel at UFC 207, in front of the largest UFC crowd ever in Las Vegas, cool, calm, collected and focused at the task at hand. Despite being the reigning champion for main event - just the tenth main event to feature a women's division match - the hype around the UFC 207 card was overwhelmingly centered around the return of one of the sport's most sensational figures. Ronda Rousey singlehandedly carried the women's bantamweight division of the UFC into the world spotlight. Her nasty, "All I do is beat ass" attitude combined with her ability to do just that at lighting fast speed captivated not only the country, but the entire globe. However, it had been nearly two years since the world last saw a Ronda Rousey victory and the enormous cheers from the crowd perfectly personified the excitement that existed not only in a sold out T-Mobile arena, but to all those globally anticipating Rousey's return. Afterall, it was her enormous following that catipulted her into contemporary pop culture iconography; endorsement deals everywhere from Reebok to Pantene, Hollywood cameos and my favorite Rousey moment - judo flipping Triple H at Wrestlemania 31.
Despite losing in embarasing fashion in her last fight against Holly Holms, Ronda Rousey entered the UFC 207 Octagon still as the undisputed Queen of MMA. As the sports most popular and dominant athlete, Rousey's status was hers to lose. Take for example, the fact that despite being the challenger and not having won a match in nearly two years, Rousey was guaranteed $3 million for the fight while the champion Nunes was guaranteed only $200,000. Those numbers speak volumes about who the most valuable figure in the sport is. But as Nunes would say in her post-match interview "I knew tonight would be my moment," and boy was it ever. From the moment Nunes threw her first punch she knew that the challenger was no match for her if it would become a boxing match; "Her coach put this idea in her head that she is a boxer. I don't know why he did that," said Nunes after the match. It took only 48 seconds for "The Lioness" to prove her point, drowning Rousey with right hand after right hand, stringing together two and three punch combinations in devastating fashion, stunning the icon who's "Rowdy" nickname once stood in infamy. Referee Herb Dean was forced to step in, ending the fight and quite possibly the most storied women's fighting career ever. This actually should have came as no surprise to most UFC fans; in her last fight Nunes absolutely demolished the champion Meisha Tate, Rousey's contemporary rival and a women's MMA legend in her own right. Nunes destroyed Tate's nose with those patented right hand blows, and while Tate was on the ground attempting to regain composure Nunes slipped in a suffocating rear naked choke, winning her first bantamweight title in the fight's opening round while at the same time stunning the crowd and the world. Soon after the fight Meisha Tate retired, saying that "When you get beat like that, sometimes you just lose the heart to fight for a living." Tate also said in the same interview on ESPN that she doubted whether Rousey's heart was still in fighting now that she had a career outside of the Octagon, and wondered whether or not Rousey was doing the fight because of public pressure and the need to restore her image as the baddest woman on the planet. True or not, one thing was clear Friday night - Amanda Nunes is the most dominant female fighter in the UFC. She is now on the longest win streak in the Bantamweight division, this is the third fight she has won this year, all of them dominant performances over top 10 fighters in the world. Having now ended the careers of two UFC legends in two consecutive fights and sitting as the undisputed Bantamweight champion - the most competitive women's division - Nunes didn't have the proverbial crown placed on her head, she snatched it. The sky is literally the limit now with Nunes; she's the hottest fighter in the UFC. With two emphatic wins over MMA legends in a row and a home country in Brazil which will be behind her in full force whenever she chooses to defend the belt overseas, Nunes has the potential to transform herself into the sports next sensational superstar and (of course) make buku amounts of money. Now that there is no question about who the Queen of mixed martial arts is, the question UFC fans are all faced with is; what kind of champion are we getting? When it was all said and done, Nunes had won over the Las Vegas crowd. She was showered with praise as she proclaimed "I am the champion now! C'mon! I'm the greatest fighter in the world!" Perhaps her interview gave us a glimpse of what we should come to expect from her reign as champion. Sporting a huge grin and speaking with jubilance, Nunes showed us a champion who not only loves the sport, but life. She took time to shout out her entire training staff, her home country Brazil as well as her girlfriend (did I mention Nunes is the sport's first openly gay champion?). She also touted the importance of training and preparation which she identified as the keys to her success, "I've been training to fight Ronda Rousey since I entered UFC." When asked what she thought about the fact that the promotion of the event was almost completely about Ronda Rousey she conceded that Rousey deserved the pre-match attention "She's the greatest ever she deserves it," but ultimately insisted that the world start paying attention to the deep roster of hard working women currently climbing their way up the UFC ranks, adding "Forget Ronda Rousey!" for good measure. In that way, Nunes is everything that Ronda Rousey was not when it comes to being an ambassador for the sport. Nunes shows admiration and respect for opponents where Rousey showed disdain. At two points during Friday night's main event Nunes attempted to shake the legend's hand and both times Rousey denied her, running out of the ring without saying to a word to anybody - effectively hiding her face as Nunes attempted to thank her for the fight and probably for everything she's done for women's MMA. Where Nunes shows strenghth and perseverance in the face of adversity Rousey cowered. In both of Rousey's losses she left without congratulating the winner, didn't speak to media, hid her face and ran. Nunes is not unfamiliar with losing, she has four losses in UFC and each time she has used those matches as learning experiences, gotten stronger and better and returned with a new chip on her shoulder. Where Rousey seemed like she exploded onto the scene, Nunes' road to the limelight has been a long an arduous journey; one that involved migrating to a foreign country, learning a whole new skillset in boxing and judo, changing gyms and even picking up a new language. Where Rousey approached the sport with a gritty demeanor Nunes brings a joy to the Octagon which is both refreshing and uplifting, going so far as to wear a lioness mask to her weigh-ins, a fun and boisterous way to express what she feels is the perfect symbol for her dominance. But perhaps the most glaring characteristic of the new Queen is her brutal honesty and unshakeable confidence. I was jarred at how directly she answered each question in the press conference, always grinning. When asked if Ronda would retire she responds "Absolutely. She's got to be done now." When asked about the future of the women's division she answered "[The promotion] has got to get better. This is all new now. Its exciting," and pointing at her title belt she exclaimed "It's got to be all about this. It's all about the champion, and I'm never losing this belt." When asked who she would fight next she said "It doesn't matter, I'll be ready for whoever I fight." And when asked about that viscious right hand she said "When I connect with my punches, girls can't take it." Here's to hoping she continues to put her money where her mouth is. Congratulations to the new Queen of the UFC, I for one am certainly looking forward to seeing just how many people the Lioness will prey on, how many hearts she will capture; she's already got mine!
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