While Amanda Nunes has a head-to-head win, Cris Cyborg thinks there should be more to the GOAT conversation than that.
Cris Cyborg doesn’t agree with Amanda Nunes being called the greatest female MMA fighter of all time.
Nunes (22-5 MMA, 15-2 UFC), who currently holds both the UFC featherweight and bantamweight titles, took the crown for greatest female fighter, according to many, when she knocked out Cyborg in the first round at UFC 232 in December 2018. The loss to Nunes snapped Cyborg’s 14-year unbeaten run.
“You guys call Amanda GOAT, but man, she has more losses than me. She don’t stay 14 years undefeated,” Cyborg said in an interview with Henry Cejudo. “OK, I lost the fight (against) her, yeah, but it happens. You know, sometimes it’s not your day. Sometimes it happens. But the history, how long, it’s not just about one fight.”
Whereas Nunes has the head-to-head win, Cyborg has won titles in Strikeforce, Invicta FC, UFC, and is the reigning Bellator women’s featherweight champion with four title defenses.
Nunes had looked unstoppable after dethroning Cyborg to win the UFC featherweight title. However, her run was stopped when she lost her bantamweight title to Julianna Peña by submission at UFC 269. She later avenged that loss and reclaimed her belt in dominant fashion at UFC 277 in July.
In a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Cyborg said a potential octagon return is out of question. So unless Nunes parts ways with the UFC, Cyborg doesn’t see a rematch ever happening.
“If Amanda Nunes gets out of the UFC, this rematch can happen,” Cyborg said. “If she just continues in the UFC, it’s hard to happen. The UFC doesn’t like to pay the fighters.”
Adding onto her great MMA legacy, Cyborg laced up the boxing gloves for the first time in her career on Sept. 25 and defeated professional boxer Simone Silva by unanimous decision in Curitiba, Brazil.
