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Amanda Nunes Fights to Restore Bantamweight Order

July 3, 2017 | Posted by Dan Plunkett

The balance of power in UFC’s women’s bantamweight division has shifted drastically in the past two years. Once stable orbiting the immense gravity of Ronda Rousey, Holly Holm threw the division into a flux in November of 2015, and the division is only just beginning to regain some semblance of order. That order returned to the division thanks to the doom fists of Amanda Nunes, which banished two of division’s most storied fighters from its ranks.

The division’s past now out of view for the moment, Nunes sets out to forge her own legacy, to become the target that young female fighters in the gym envision in front of them. She will meet challenges as she paves that path, and the first up at UFC 213 is the toughest one in sight. Win, and her reign should be a long one, perhaps even challenging Rousey in length and number of discarded challengers. Lose, and the division takes a hard turn back toward disorder.

Valentina Shevchenko is no bantamweight; standing five-foot-five, she is one of the division’s shortest fighters and cuts little to no weight to make the division’s 135-pound limit. She compensates for any size disadvantage with slick striking techniques, particularly her counters, and speed. Prior to competing in the UFC, Shevchenko won multiple world championships in kickboxing and Muay Thai – a career that included three victories over current UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk. In Shevchenko’s breakout MMA performance last year, she was a step ahead of former UFC bantamweight champion and multi-time boxing titlist Holly Holm at every turn, winning four rounds to one in a unanimous decision.

Although better suited for flyweight, Shevchenko appears to be the best-equipped challenger to knock off Nunes. She already proved she could take the champion’s best in their three-round bout last year.

Nunes is the most dangerous first round fighter in the women’s ranks. She starts fast and typically her fights end the same way, but as with most fast starters, if her opponent survives and drags the fight to a second or third round, she devolves into a slow finisher. Nunes’ arms become heavy, her movement plodding, and her breathing labored. Fatigue cost her a victory against Cat Zingano in September 2014, nearly lost her the lead in last year’s bout with Shevchenko, and, if she loses on Saturday at UFC 213, fatigue will likely be a chief culprit.

Surprisingly, Nunes performed best in the second round against Shevchenko last year. A relatively slow first round saw Nunes throwing heavy punches and kicks and Shevchenko mainly holding back, waiting to answer. In the second round, Nunes quickly brought the fight to the ground. Although a bit more measured and patient in her approach than her reputation would suggest, she still threw power punches and elbows that bloodied Shevchenko and made the end seem close. With one minute left, Nunes took Shevchenko’s back and fought for a rear naked choke for most of the remainder of the round. As the seconds counted down, Shevchenko turned into Nunes’ guard, escaping imminent danger and swinging the momentum of the contest.

For all her effort, Nunes was far ahead on the scorecards, but Shevchenko emerged from her stool after the second round as the fresher fighter. She scored with a standing elbow and turned a Nunes takedown attempt into a trip of her own. Shevchenko beat up Nunes in the crucifix position, and later got the better of the striking battle until the conclusion of the round. It was not enough to make the judges side with Shevchenko, but it gave the impression that if there had been a fourth and fifth round, Shevchenko likely would have walked away victorious.

Nunes went on to crush Miesha Tate at UFC 200 to take the title, and then crushed Ronda Rousey to defend it in December at UFC 207. Shevchenko followed the new champion’s lead, although not quite as destructively, first by defeating Holm, and then by submitting Julianna Pena, which cemented her as the next title challenger.

Nunes vs. Shevchenko is the headline attraction of UFC 213, UFC’s annual early-July “International Fight Week” event. Unlike their last meeting, both Nunes and Shevchenko have prepared exclusively for five round bouts for the past year. In theory, that should be to Nunes’ benefit, as the more time she has had to improve her conditioning is better for her. However, her fighting style, with power punches and kicks coming out of the gate, often without masking them, is not built for long bouts.

Not only will the fight test Nunes’ skill and conditioning, it will also test her drawing power. Last year, Nunes competed in the main event of two cards that exceeded one million pay-per-view buys, and her bout with Shevchenko opened the main card of a third million-plus seller. However, Nunes was far from the driving force of any of those numbers. The success, failure, or mediocrity of Saturday’s card will indicate how much that exposure means for fighters that are just along for the ride. For Nunes’ part, she could not have dreamt of better performances than she had in each of her headlining bouts last year.

If Saturday proves Amanda Nunes as a solid attraction and she adds another fight to her string of excellent performances, a dependable draw is very valuable to the modern UFC, as that class has lessened in number over the years. However, even if the pay-per-view exceeds expectations, Valentina Shevchenko may return the bantamweight division to disorder, waiting for a dominant champion to take the reins once again.

Dan Plunkett has covered MMA for 411Mania since 2008. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @Dan_Plunkett.

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Amanda Nunes, Dan Plunkett