Nunes TKO’s Holm in 1st spherical to retain title
Marc RaimondiESPN
LAS VEGAS — Holly Holm is aware of a bit of one thing about head kicks. She had essentially the most historic one in UFC historical past, when she shocked Ronda Rousey with that number of knockout almost 4 years in the past.
On Saturday night time, Holm was on the receiving finish of one in every of them by Amanda Nunes, who continues to cement herself as the best girls’s MMA fighter of all time. Nunes landed a proper head kick to Holm’s face and adopted up with a tough proper hand on the bottom. The TKO end got here at Four minutes, 10 seconds of the primary spherical within the co-main occasion of UFC 239 at T-Cellular Area.
Nunes retained her girls’s bantamweight title with the victory. She mentioned she informed her coach beforehand that she wished to cease Holm with a head kick, as a result of that’s Holm’s signature approach. Holm had the one different head-kick knockout in a UFC girls’s bantamweight title battle, towards Rousey in 2015.
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Coming in, Nunes, additionally the featherweight champion, had overwhelmed each different former UFC girls’s bantamweight or featherweight champion exterior of Holm, and now she has defeated Holm as nicely.
“I informed my coaches I wished to knock her out the identical method she knocks folks out,” Nunes mentioned. “I did it tonight. She was the one former champion I did not beat but. Now I beat her, and I am very blissful.”
Nunes (17-Four) mentioned that she subsequent wished to defend her featherweight belt to develop into the one UFC champion to defend two titles whereas holding them concurrently. The Brazilian slugger, who trains out of American Prime Staff in Florida, has received 9 bouts in a row. Nunes, 31, has 4 first-round finishes in title fights, tied for second with Matt Hughes. Rousey is first with 5.
UFC president Dana White reiterated his stance that Nunes ranks among the many biggest MMA fighters ever, placing her alongside the likes of Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre and Jon Jones.
White mentioned he was open to reserving a rematch between Nunes and Cris Cyborg, who lasted solely 51 seconds towards Nunes in December.
“This girl is hard, man,” White mentioned of Nunes. “She’s unbelievable. Pound for pound, one of many biggest of all time. However there might be any person subsequent.”
Holm (12-5) had received two of her previous three fights. The previous three-division world champion boxer has now misplaced in 4 UFC title fights. Holm, 37, is barely 2-5 since her knockout of Rousey at UFC 193.