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What’s the story?
The once queen of MMA, Ronda Rousey made her comeback to the UFC, after a 13-months long hiatus to face the defending champion Amanda ‘The Lioness’ Nunes atUFC 207. It was a much awaited return to the Octagon for Rousey, but 48-seconds after the opening bell, her comeback dream was shattered by 27 significant strikes to which the former champion had no reply. Rousey’s night ended in despair and defeat, in one of the most lopsided fights in the history of UFC. Referee Herb Dean had to step in to rescue Ronda Rousey from the barrage of punches.
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But that was not the end of it, shortly after winning the fight Amanda Nunes mocked Rousey by posting an edited image of a woman pushing a pram,
https://twitter.com/Amanda_Leoa/status/815079787966275584/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The UFC champion Nunes even kept on criticizing Ronda Rousey for many days after the fight and wanted her to retire. But now, there has been a sudden change in her demeanour. While speaking with Fox 11 Los Angeles, based on her own experience, ‘The Lioness’ shared few words of advice for Rousey’s comeback to MMA,
“I already passed this moment in my career. It’s harder to lose but if you be strong, you will be able to comeback like I did.Make some changes, adjust. The passion in her life, the family has to be with her. The base is very important. Make some changes in her camp, move to another gym and come back stronger.”
In case you didn’t know...
After facing back-to-back defeats, Ronda Rousey has a professional MMA record of 12-2-0 (W-L-D). Former Olympic medalist has 11 first round finishes and made 6 successfultitle defenses. She lost her title at UFC 193 fighting against Holly Holm.
The UFC champion Amanda Nunes (14-4-0) is the second person who defeated Rousey inside the Octagon. ‘The Lioness’ also has 11 first round finishes in her career and 10 wins by knockout. She rocked Rousey in 48-seconds, making it her fastest knockout in her career till date.
The heart of the matter
Amanda Nunes, after making a successful debut in the UFC, lost to Cat Zingano via a knockout. After that defeat she changed her gym, and started training with elite fighters of American Top Team camp. This move significantly improved her fighting style and helped her achieve her dream of becoming the UFC champion. Ronda Rousey, seems a little stuck up in her old camp. What Rousey needs is to do exactly what Nunes did, change her camp and look at things with a different perspective. This sport is constantly evolving, and Rousey needs to mix things up and evolve with it.
What next?
Recently Ronda Rousey shared an inspirational quote on Instagram about building herself up from rock bottom. This gives hope to all the fans that, in spite of many people saying that she should retire, maybe Rousey plans on coming back stronger. There has not been any official announcement from her side regarding her future in MMA.
Amanda Nunes successfully defended her title against the most dominant fighter in UFC, proving herself as a well deserving champion. But there are not many big names left in the women’s division. In the interview with Fox 11 Los Angeles, Nunes told about her plans to become the first female fighter to hold two championship belts.
‘The Lioness’ plans on fighting the winner of UFC’s inaugural women’s featherweight title between Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie.
Sportskeeda’s Take
Amanda Nunes had been mocking Rousey for a long time now, but this sudden change of behaviour could mean that she doesn’t want the former champion to retire from MMA just yet. What I think is that ‘The Lioness’ wants a rematch with Rousey, as there are not many big names in the women’s division. Even after the defeat, all the focus was on Rousey, instead of the champion. She wants to prove it to the MMA world that Rousey’s days of dominating the division is over and it’s her time now.
