Amanda Nunes is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who fights under the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Known as The Lioness, she is the current UFC women’s bantamweight and featherweight champion. The 35-year-old is the first female fighter in UFC history to win belts in two different weight classes, the third fighter overall to hold two world titles simultaneously, and the only fighter – male or female, to hold and successfully defend two different championships.
In this Amanda Nunes Story…
Amanda Nunes Quick Facts
| Name: | Amanda Lourenco Nunes |
| Age: | 35 years old |
| Date of Birth: | May 30, 1988 |
| Place of Birth: | Pojuca, Bahia, Brazil |
| Nationality: | Brazilian |
| Height: | 173 cm (5 ft 8 in) |
| Weight: | 61.2 kg ( 135 lbs ) |
| Reach: | 69 in |
| Fighting Stance: | Orthodox |
| Net Worth: | $4,000,000 |
| Last Fight Purse: | $500,000 |
| Instagram: | @amanda_leoa 1.6 million followers |
| Twitter: | @Amanda_Leoa 389.4K followers |
Amanda Nunes Record
Amanda Nunes has a professional MMA record of 22-5 with 13 wins via knockout and 4 victories via submission. Fourteen of her 17 total finishes have come inside the first round.
Nunes won 12 consecutive bouts during a six-year period beginning in March 2015. During that span, she fought in nine consecutive title fights, including four successful defenses of the women’s bantamweight title and two featherweight title defenses.
As of June 1, 2023, Nunes holds the UFC record for most finishes ever by a female fighter with 10. The Lioness also has the most wins by a female fighter in a title fight with 10 and is tied with Jessica Andrade for most wins by a female fighter with 15. Her combined title reign of 3,592 days is the longest ever by any UFC fighter.
Amanda Nunes Stats
- Significant Strikes landed per 15 minutes: 4.40
- Significant Striking Accuracy: 51%
- Significant Strikes Absorbed per minute: 2.75
- Significant Striking Defense: 55%
- Average Takedowns Lander per 15 minutes: 2.61
- Takedown accuracy: 56%
- Takedown Defense: 82%
- Average Submissions attempted per 15 minutes: 0.8
*stats taken from ufcstats.com
Amanda Nunes Loss
On March 8, 2008, Amanda Nunes made her professional MMA debut for the Brazilian promotion Prime against a promising fighter named Ana Maria. Nunes was submitted via armbar in just 35 seconds to open her MMA career with a loss.
But that loss did not stop Amanda from fighting again. She climbed back to the ring two months later and annihilated Paty Barbosa in a mere 11 seconds:
Right there and then, everyone knew Nunes had something special in her. In 2011, she left for the United States to pursue her career in the biggest promotions. She went 2-2 at Strikeforce but showed enough promise to be signed by the UFC.
Amanda won her first two UFC bouts via knockout but suffered a knockout loss to Cat Zingano at UFC 178 in 2014. That loss became the turning point of her career.
Amanda Nunes vs. Julianna Pena
After the Zingano loss, Nunes won 12 fights in a row before her UFC 269 title defense against Julianna Pena. In that bout, The Lioness dominated the opening round but Pena was a stubborn opponent and came on strong in Round 2 where she secured a rear-naked choke stoppage against the Brazilian champion.
An immediate rematch was set for UFC 277 last July 30, 2022. Nunes would regain her bantamweight belt by defeating Pena via unanimous decision with scores of 50-45, 50-44, and 50-43 across five rounds.
Pena demanded a third fight and the UFC booked the rivals to a fight at UFC 289 on June 10, 2023, in Canada. However, in early May, Pena withdrew from the bout after suffering rib injuries during training. There is no word yet on when the fight will be rescheduled, if at all.
Amanda Nunes next fight
With Julianna Pena out, the UFC installed Irene Aldana as Nunes’ replacement opponent for UFC 289. Aldana is the No. 5 ranked women’s bantamweight fighter in the UFC and heads to the event with four wins in her last five bouts, including thee via stoppage. In her most recent UFC appearance, Aldana knocked out Macy Chiasson at UFC 279 last September 10, 2022.
Nunes and Aldana will serve as the main event of UFC 289 with a men’s lightweight bout between former champion Charles Oliveira and No.4 lightweight Beneil Dariush slated as the co-main event. UFC 289 will be held at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada.
Amanda Nunes Personal Life & Family
Amanda Nunes was born to Ivete and Sindoval Nunes who separated when Amanda was only four years old. To support Amanda and he older sisters Valdirene and Vanessa, Ivete doubled up on her job as a school administrative assistant by selling beauty products and foodstuff.
Little Amanda wanted to be a soccer player and played on the local soccer team when she was in elementary. But Amanda’s mother also used to train in boxing and her uncle Jose Silva was a Vale Tudo fighter so Amanda got into fighting. She first took up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at 16 years old after her sister Vanessa invited her to try training on the mats. That became the turning point of her life.
She moved to Salvador with Vanessa to train in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. But because Vanessa’s home was far from the Edson Carvalho gym, Amanda decided to live inside the gym. Being the only female fighter in that gym, she grappled against men every day. And so the Lioness was born.
Amanda Nunes Wife
Amanda Nunes is also the UFC’s first lesbian world champion. She is married to former UFC fighter Nina Ansaroff who previously fought in the promotion’s women’s flyweight division.
Amanda and Nina met at the MMA Masters Gym in Florida where they sparred against each other. According to Amanda, she first looked at Nina as her punching bag:
“In the past, I was in the gym just to train. I saw Nina as a punching bag. But then I realized that she was my partner, and she helped me get where I am today,” Amanda said via MMAFighting. “When we started hanging out together, I realized I should stop thinking about hurting her, and things started to get better.”
“I started looking at Nina as a training partner, that we should help each other and not hurt each other. Everything changed. I looked at it from a different perspective. Meeting Nina made me change every day, even in training. When I spar with her today, it’s completely different. We’re helping each other out.”
From training partners, they became good friends, and ultimately a romantic pair.
They have been a couple since 2012 and on August 19, 2018, they announced that they were engaged.
Ansaroff revealed in October 2019 that she was taking a one-year absence in order to get pregnant. On March 6, 2020, the couple announced that they were expecting their first child. Nina gave birth to daughter Raegan Ann Nunes on September 24, 2020.
Nina fought twice after giving birth. She lost via first-round submission to McKenzie Dern at UFC Vegas 23 on April 10, 2021. She bounced back to defeat Cynthia Calvillo via split decision at UFC on ESPN 41 last August 13, 2022. Nina announced her retirement after that victory and revealed that she and Nunes are planning to have a second daughter.
Amanda Nunes net worth
According to the sports website sportskeeda.com, Amanda Nunes has a net worth of $4,000,000 as of May 2023. That amount is the same as what wealthygorilla.com declares as the Lioness 2023 net worth. The website celebritynetworth.com also lists the same figure as Amanda’s value.
To put Amanda Nunes’ wealth in perspective, let us take a look at how much she made in her most recent UFC bouts. For her fights against Germaine de Randamie( UFC 245), Felicia Spencer (UFC 250), and Megan Anderson (UFC 259), Nunes made $490,000 per bout. That amount included a $350,000 fight purse, a $100,000 win bonus, and $40,000 as a Fight Week incentive.
In her two fights against Juliana Pena, Nunes’ fight purse was listed at $500,000 per fight. A sponsorship bonus of $42,000 was also paid to her for both events. She also got a PPV share with both UFC 269 and UFC 277 being pay-per-view events but fighters’ PPV shares aren’t publicly declared by the promotion.
Nunes has also done endorsement deals with Reebok, CELSIUS energy drink, Trifecta, Yamamoto Nutrition, Tokyo Time, and TEN Spring Water. The amount of compensation she received from endorsing the said products was not divulged.
Amanda Nunes Nude
The Lioness was featured on the cover of ESPN’s Body Issue cover in 2019 and was one of the featured athletes in the 11th edition of the magazine which was created to “celebrate the athletic form”.
Among the more recognizable athletes in that 2019 issue were NBA superstar Chris Paul, WNBA player Liz Cambage, Professional golfer Brooks Koepka, NHL star Evander Kane, and the entire Philadelphia Eagles offensive line.