Amanda Nunes wants to take on the world
As kick-ass mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Amanda Nunes is known as the first openly lesbian champion– and she’s not ashamed to let the world to know it.
In fact, Amanda– also called The Lioness or Leona— is currently in a four-year relationship with fellow UFC fighter Nina Ansaroff and they live together in Orlando, Florida.
Amanda Nunes: A fighter’s life
Born on May 30, 1988 from the town of Salvador in Bahia, Brazil, Amanda Lourenco Nunes started training in karate at the young age of four.
She went into boxing at the age of 16. A year later, she was invited by her older sister to visit their town’s jiu-jitsu dojo.
With some prodding from that same sister, Amanada signed up for lessons. She then trained under Brazilian jiu-jitsu Black Belt Ryan Franco on grappling.
She moved to New Jersey, training at the AMA Fight Club. After she moved to Miami to train at the MMA Masters.
In 2008, she turned professional and made her first MMA appearance– but lost her first match against Ana Maria at the Prime MMA Championship 2 in the first round by ambar submission.
Amanda Nunes: A winning career
Fortunately, Amanda won her next five fights by knockout, one of them in just 14 seconds against Julia Budd.
She fought in Strikeforce in 2011 and then Invicta FC in in 2013. She debuted at the UFC also in 2013 at the UFC 163 in Brazil.
Though she won most of her fights, her only loss was at the UFC 178 in 2015 against Cat Zingano with a third round TKO.
Amanda showed her championship form when she defeated one of the reigning names of the sport, Miesha Tate, last July 9, 2016 for the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship title.
Amanda Nunes: A lesbian champion
When Amanda won against Miesha, she celebrated her victory by kissing Nina in the ring. Her victory made history as the first ever openly LGBT champion of the UFC.
“Nina is the best training partner I’ve ever had in my life,” Amanda said of Nina during the post-fight conference.
“This girl is going to be the next UFC champion. I’m telling you. Look at her, she’s shy. This girl has so many talents,” she added.
“This girl, she helps me everyday. I love her. It’s amazing (to be first UFC gay champion). I am very happy with my life. That’s the most important thing,” she said.
For more about Amanda Nunes, check out Lesbian News exclusive interview with the UFC champion in this month’s latest issue.