Ultimate Fighting Championship

Amanda Nunes: 'Ronda Rousey was overrated and the UFC made it happen'

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 12:43 p.m. ET

Fansided, Jose Youngs/Fansided

Reigning UFC champion Amanda Nunes has a harsh reality for fans crying over her devastating 48-second knockout victory over Ronda Rousey at UFC 207 last Friday.

Speaking with TMZ, the woman known as “The Lioness” revealed she not only knew she would finish Rousey in such a violent way last week, but had been planning her attack ever since she broke into the UFC in 2013.

“I don’t know how Ronda Rousey went this far in the division,” said Nunes. “Honestly, I don’t understand loss to Ronda Rousey. I’ve known since my first fight in the UFC that I could beat Ronda Rousey. But of course I had to take my time. But [UFC 207] was the day I had to prove to everybody that I could do it.”

Throughout the fight, for as long as it lasted, the Brazilian put Rousey through the ringer. She stalked the former champ into the fence as she landed a barrage of punches onto her opponent’s bloodied face. Try as she might, Rousey simply could not escape the onslaught as Nunes continued unload on her, forcing the referee to stop the fight.

For Rousey, this was her second career setback following her violent head kick knockout to Holly Holm in November 2015.

But while the world sat back in shock at the destruction of the woman they once thought was unbeatable, Nunes could only laugh. After all, the UFC had spent months hyping up the return of its former champion while essentially treating the actual titleholder as an afterthought.

That didn’t matter to Nunes since she knew violent things were in store for Rousey once the Octagon door finally closed.

“My camp for Miesha Tate [before UFC 200] was harder than my camp for Ronda Rousey,” revealed Nunes. “She’s for sure [overrated]. The UFC made this happen. But I knew I could beat Ronda Rousey since I saw her first fight.”

Her victory over Rousey marked Nunes’ 10th career knockout victory and fourth under the UFC banner. It also gave her longest active winning (5), most wins (7), most finishes (6) and most knockouts (4) in the UFC’s women’s bantamweight division.