5 reasons why Cris Cyborg will beat Amanda Nunes

#1 Cyborg has a big size advantage

Cyborg will have a big size advantage over Nunes come fight time

Perhaps the biggest issue for any fighter wanting to beat Cyborg is the huge strength and size advantage that she tends to hold over her opponents. While critics would claim this is down to PED use earlier in her career, she hasn’t actually tested positive for years now and it’s more of an issue surrounding the thin nature of 145lbs category. Simply put, there aren’t that many accomplished female fighters at that weight.

That’s why we’ve seen natural 135lbers like Tonya Evinger, Holly Holm and Yana Kunitskaya step up to challenge her recently, and of course, Nunes is another one on that list. Sure, she’s more accomplished than those three as she’s the current UFC champ, but she’s actually won a lot of her UFC fights by being larger and more powerful than her opponent.

Of her recent victories, I would argue that the majority of them – the win over Raquel Pennington, the first win against Valentina Shevchenko, the win over Miesha Tate, the win over Sara McMann – came from Nunes being the more physically imposing fighter inside the cage. Essentially, inside the cage at least, Nunes is a bully.

But how will she cope with a fighter physically capable of bullying her? Judging by the way she lost to Cat Zingano in 2014, probably not so well. And in female MMA right now, there is no bigger bully around than Cris Cyborg. She’s got all the advantages and I just can’t see her losing at UFC 232.