New UFC female bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes has no regard for Miesha Tate, Cat Zingano or any other challenger that stepped inside the Octagon with Ronda Rousey.
Nunes, who submitted Tate to win the belt last month at UFC 200, called the previous Rousey challengers nothing more than “inferior little girls who always fell for her game.”
As for the Brazilian, she remains hopeful to test her skills vs. the former champion when – and if – she decides to return to MMA.
“I don’t believe Ronda will ever be the same fighter. I think her time has come and gone. She knows she lost her momentum and that’s the problem. She was undefeated for a long time and now she can’t handle a loss. When I first started fighting, I lost right off the bat. It was like life telling to get back up and become a champion in the future. I know how to handle it. It’s bad, sure, and I don’t want to lose anymore, but it helped me evolve,” she told Combate. “Ronda never had that. She kept fighting inferior little girls who always fell for her game because there was pressure from the UFC, the belt and the press talking about Ronda, Ronda, Ronda all the time. That gets into an athlete’s head and girls were falling victim to her armbar. That won’t happen to me, though. I’m strong, psychologically. Really, really, strong. She knows that, and that’s why she’s avoiding me. She knows how powerful this is. I’m waiting for Ronda, it has to happen. My defense has to be historical. I want this fight to happen in New York, because it’ll be the first card there and I want to keep making history.”
Nunes (13-4) is on a four-fight win streak that includes finishes of Tate, Sara McMann and Shayna Baszler. She also earned a decision over Valentina Shevchenko in March of this year.
