Amanda Nunes is one of the greatest fighters in mixed martial arts history.

 

Go back, read that sentence again, and notice what is missing, because it’s important.

 

What’s missing is the qualifier that accompanies most reflections on the greatness of the 34-year-old Brazilian, who returns to action on Saturday at UFC 277, looking to regain the bantamweight title she lost to Julianna Pena in December.

 

Most agree that Nunes is the greatest female fighter of all time, but make sure to put that qualifier on there because comparing the achievements of a female fighter to her male contemporaries has a way of ruffling feathers in some pockets of the easy-to-bristle MMA community.

 

But when you look at what Nunes has accomplished, it’s not difficult to make a case for “The Lioness” being listed amongst the greatest fighters in MMA history, full stop.

 

THE RESUME

 

Record: 21-5 overall, 14-2 UFC
Titles: UFC Bantamweight Champion, UFC Featherweight Champion
Notable Victories: Germaine de Randamie (twice), Valentina Shevchenko (twice), Miesha Tate, Ronda Rousey, Cris Cyborg, Holly Holm

 

Nunes earned stoppage wins in each of her first two UFC appearances before suffering a third-round stoppage loss to Cat Zingano at UFC 178.

 

She then embarked on a 12-fight winning streak that stands as one of the most impressive runs in MMA history, beating Shayna Baszler, Sara McMann, and Shevchenko to earn a bantamweight title fight at UFC 200 against Miesha Tate.

 

After battering Tate and claiming the belt, she successfully defended the title against Ronda Rousey five months later, handing the pioneering former champion her second consecutive loss and dispatching her from the sport for good.

 

She followed that with a split decision win over Shevchenko in what is easily the closest fight of her career before collecting stoppage wins over Raquel Pennington, Cyborg, and Holm in the span of 14 months. She added the featherweight title to her collection with her first-round win over Cyborg at UFC 232.

 

A second win over de Randamie, whom she beat in her second UFC appearance, prior to the Zingano loss, followed before Nunes retained her featherweight belt with wins over Felicia Spencer (unanimous decision) and Megan Anderson (first-round submission) before being knocked from her perch atop the bantamweight division last December at UFC 269 by Pena.

 

If you were making a list of the Top 10 female fighters of all time, all six of the women listed in the Notable Victories section would merit serious consideration, with de Randamie being the only one that might not survive the final cut, and Nunes beat them all.

 

Most of them handily.

 

A couple of them twice.

 

None of her male contemporaries have put together the same caliber of resume.

 

Jon Jones is probably closest, having dispatched five former champions during his initial reign in the light heavyweight division, adding victories over future title holders Daniel Cormier and Glover Teixeira in there for good measure.

 

Georges St-Pierre defeated four former champions if you count interim champ Carlos Condit, and he doubled up on Matt Hughes, while Chris Weidman bested three former UFC titleholders during his reign at middleweight, although two of them had won gold in the light heavyweight ranks.

 

THE GREATER CASE FOR NUNES

 

It’s not just a matter of who Nunes beat that demands she be included in the conversation of the best fighters of all time, but it’s the accomplishments that come with those victories.

 

Nunes is one of four fighters — and the only female fighter — to hold UFC gold in two weight classes simultaneously, and the only one to successfully defend each belt.

 

Conor McGregor won gold at featherweight and lightweight but didn’t defend either; not once.

 

Daniel Cormier achieved the feat at light heavyweight and heavyweight, but never returned to the 205-pound ranks after defeating Stipe Miocic to claim the heavyweight strap.

 

The same goes for Henry Cejudo, who won and defended the flyweight title before venturing to bantamweight, winning gold there, defending that title once, and retiring from the sport.

 

Nunes went back and forth between divisions, posting two wins in each weight class after becoming a “Double Champ.”

 

Additionally — and this is the one that really speaks volumes about her excellence — prior to losing her title to Pena at the end of last year, Nunes had defeated every woman to carry UFC gold at bantamweight (Rousey, Holm, and Tate) and featherweight (de Randamie, Cyborg). She beat them all in championship fights within two years of their holding UFC gold.

 

She’s also won a pair of close, competitive bouts with the current flyweight champ Shevchenko, and if she reclaims her title by defeating Pena this weekend at UFC 277, she’ll once again have beaten everyone to wear gold in those two weight classes in championship fights.

 

To put that into perspective, Cejudo already owns victories over three former champions from the two divisions where he won gold — Demetrious Johnson, TJ Dillashaw, and Dominick Cruz. In order to match Nunes, he’d still need to beat Renan Barao, Cody Garbrandt, Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling to clear out the list of former bantamweight champions, as well as Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno in order to tackle flyweight.

 

Some will argue Nunes’ path to achieving such a feat was easier because the depth of talent isn’t the same in women’s MMA and the skill-level isn’t the same, but both are simply thinly veiled attempts to minimize her achievements because this isn’t a case made on quantity of wins as much as it is quality of victories.

 

Since 2016, Nunes has faced nothing but champions, former champions, and top contenders, and until last December, she’d beaten them all, the vast majority of them without much struggle.

 

If you want to point to bouts with Raquel Pennington, Felicia Spencer, and Megan Anderson as less daunting challenges, there are comparable examples on the resumes of her male counterparts both past and present.

 

Jones fought Vitor Belfort and Chael Sonnen.

 

Silva fought Patrick Cote and Thales Leites.

 

St-Pierre successfully defended his belt against Dan Hardy and Josh Koscheck.

 

If you remain champion long enough, you’re likely to face a few “not as dangerous” challengers, often because you’ve already beaten the best of the bunch; not that anyone holds those victories against those tenured and revered male titleholders.

 

GREATNESS VS. IMPACT

 

One thing that seems to happen in these discussions and exercises is that folks confuse or conflate greatness with impact when the two are clearly very different things.

 

Rousey had the far greater impact on the sport — she broke the gender barrier in the UFC and carried the sport to new levels of mainstream recognition during her reign, inspiring a generation of female fighters.

 

Nunes is the greater fighter in terms of results, accomplishments, and accolades, the same way there are several basketball players that rank higher than Allen Iverson on the list of all-time greats, but few that had the kind of impact on the sport and the culture as Bubba Chuck.

 

The two things can be true at the same time, and celebrating one doesn’t have to come at the expense of the other.

 

NO NEED FOR SEPARATE LISTS

 

Amanda Nunes is one of the greatest fighters of all time, and there is no need to qualify her greatness.

 

Adding the word “female” in there is only done to minimize her accomplishments, to subtly highlight that what she did was somehow different, less impressive than her male counterparts when none of her male counterparts have done what she’s done.

 

We don’t need separate lists keeping men and women apart in these conversations because they’re all competing on the same stage, with the same goals and ambitions.

 

Nunes’ dominance shouldn’t be diminished because she’s a woman.

 

Her success isn’t impressive “for a woman” — it’s impressive, full stop, and if you can’t see that, you need to open your eyes.