Before ran through Cris Cyborg in 51 seconds, Amanda Nunes had one of her UFC rivals ready to retire.
On the way to becoming the greatest female hunter of all time, Amanda Nunes picked up 10 victories for former/current UFC champions. Two of them are Valentina Shevchenko, the #1 pound-for-pound female hunter in the world, and Julianna Peña, the only woman who beat Nunes in the past decade.
Nunes retired in June 2023 after a title defense about Irene Aldana and wants to return years later against the winner of the next Bantamweight title fight between Peña and Kayla Harrison on UFC 316.
Peña restored the title in a controversial decision on UFC 307, where she was fell by the then champion Raquel Pennington, a hunter who destroyed Nunes today seven years ago.
Photo by Buda Mendes/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC
Raquel Pennington wanted to stop Amanda Nunes after 4 rounds on the stool
Years before she won the empty title on UFC 297, multi -year competitions Pennington entered her first UFC title fight on UFC 224 on 12 May 2018 in enemy territory in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
One of the strongest opponents of Nunes, Pennington fought through a lot of adversity and was fell with the first leg kick Nunes. Pennington stood her ground in the pocket with nunes and even took the champion in round 2 for some control time.
Pennington had her moments at the feet, but Nunes was always a step forward because they essentially doubled the number of important strikes.
Pennington was ready to give up after a brutal round 4 where 'The Lioness' held her with shots and knees to the face with a sliced opening on her forehead.
“You have to give everything you have here,” said one of the Coaches of Pennington while she was sitting on the stool between round 4 and 5.
“Why?” Early Pennington.
“I'm ready,” Pennington told her corner after she came up. “I'm ready. I want to be ready.”
Amanda Nunes steeped in Raquel Pennington in blood for late finish
Although she wanted the fight then to be over, Pennington recorded the advice of her coach and continued … but not long.
Just over a minute in the final round, Nunes scored a Takedown on Pennington and landed ruthless soil and pounds.
Pennington was forced to give up her back with blood that flowed out of her face and flowed on the mat while nunes kept hitting her.
Nunes left Pennington in a pool of her own blood when the referee stopped the match and saved Pennington due to further damage.
Nunes had achieved its third consecutive defending defense with the TKO victory and the 11th finish on top of the UFC 224 card-for most in modern UFC history.