The very first female champion vs champion fight has been reserved. Amanda”The Lioness” Nunes is currently making the move upward from the bantamweight division to take on Cristiane”Cyborg” Justino from the featherweight division at UFC 232 on December 29 in California. Oddsmakers have Cyborg opening as a -250 favorite with all The Lioness coming back at +195 with this superfight in the women’s divisions.
The -260 lineup for Cyborg may jump in you as a bargain, as in her past five fights at the Octagon she has been a typical -1619 favorite. What I find interesting about the present chances is that Cyborg entered the struggle against Holly Holm as a -275 favorite and that I think Nunes has a much greater opportunity to steal the featherweight belt from Cyborg compared to Holm ever did. The two have been verbally jousting for months and now the talk ends when both battle later this season.
Nunes in Featherweight
Although Cyborg will be the larger woman in the Octagon when the two meet, Nunes had success at featherweight in her past. She cried in the featherweight division to begin her career where she published a record of 6-1. All six successes for The Lioness in the 145-pound branch came by knockout, including wins over Ediane Gomes and Julia Budd.
Nunes has had her problems cutting on the weight at 135 lbs and has seemed to be the larger woman in all her struggles at bantamweight. The Brazilian is riding a seven-fight winning series and has defended her belt four times, finishing her competitor three of these times, including a fifth-round TKO over Raquel Pennington in UFC 224.
How can Cyborg vs NUNES play out?
This is certain to be a standup war between the two Brazilians with 17 of Cyborg’s 20 victories coming by way of T/KO and 11 of Nunes’ 16 wins coming exactly the same way. Together with two fighters coming to battle with fictitious knockout power, it is hard to give the edge one way or the other. Cyborg is going to use her size and strength to try to corner Nunes and look for the finish. The Curitiba native is methodical and aggressive, landing 7.02 strikes per minute while defending 70 percent of strikes against. Cyborg has not suffered a loss since her very first pro fight in 2005 when she had been halted by a kneebar. She has won five straight UFC fights for example defending her belt twice.
Nunes’ road to success over Cyborg may come to the mat. The Lioness averages 1.82 takedowns a 15 minutes and it’s in her very best interest to stay away from Cyborg’s power in the standup game. Two of Nunes’ four losses have come by means of TKO/KO, most recently being stopped by Cat Zingano in UFC 178. The Bahia native may look to her leg kicks to slow Cyborg down and secure the takedown where she can perform her impressive ground and pound to become the first girl two-division champion.

Read more: boxingonline.tv