One of the biggest fights in female mixed martial arts (MMA) history is approaching. At UFC 232, women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg will defend her title against 135-pound queen Amanda Nunes. The action goes down live on pay-per-view (PPV) on December 29, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate joined Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show and offered her thoughts on the match-up. Tate said she’s “obviously” picking Cyborg to win. However, Nunes packs a heck of a punch, and Tate thinks that could be a game-changer if Cyborg doesn’t respect her fellow Brazilian’s power (via MMA Mania):
“I obviously think Cyborg is going to win, she is the woman to beat and until I see something largely monumental going against Cyborg, she is pretty much going to be the one I always pick against any other woman on this planet,” said Tate.
“That being said, Amanda hits like a man. I can say first-hand that she hits so hard. And it looks effortless, she is very natural at it. She’s got this falcon-like wingspan, it’s very long. Cyborg may be surprised by how hard she gets hit by Amanda.
“I don’t believe Cyborg is going to want to walk through the punches like she does with every other female she’s ever fought. You’re not going to want to do that against Amanda. She might be smaller than you, but she packs one hell of a punch and she could hurt Cyborg.”
Nunes Can Knock Cyborg Out
While she doesn’t think it will happen, Tate said she thinks Nunes has the power to knock Cyborg out:
“She has the power to knock Cyborg out, I do believe that. I don’t think it will happen this fight, but if Cyborg doesn’t actually come in with a strategy and just wants to bully Amanda, she might get hurt,” she concluded.
Do you think Nunes can be the one to stop Cyborg?
