Morning Report: Amanda Nunes offers advice to Ronda Rousey: ‘Be strong, you’ll be able to come back like I did’

By Jed Meshew@JedKMeshew Jan 18, 2017, 8:00am EST

When Amanda Nunes defended her UFC women’s bantamweight title against Ronda Rousey at UFC 207, it was one of the most lopsided beatdowns in UFC championship history. Nunes demolished the former champion, knocking her out in a mere 48 seconds and putting Rousey’s future in the sport in serious question. After the fight, Nunes herself even said that she was confident Rousey would retire and that her time in the sport was over.

Now she’s changing her tune though. Speaking with Fox 11 Los Angeles yesterday, Nunes offered some advice to Rousey for a return to MMA based on her own experience.

“I already passed this moment in my career. It’s harder to lose but if you be strong, you’ll be able to come back like I did. Make some changes, adjust. The passion in her life, the family has to be with her. The base is very important. Make some changes in her camp, move to another gym and come back strong.”

Nunes is no stranger to comebacks. After debuting in the UFC with back-to-back first round stoppages, Nunes was placed in a title eliminator bout against Cat Zingano; Zingano won by third round TKO. The loss made Nunes decided to change things up and leave the MMA Masters gym to begin training at American Top Team with her partner Nina Ansaroff and dozens of other elite mixed martial artists. The combination has proved potent, with Nunes winning her last five bouts, taking the title, and becoming only the third woman in UFC history to successfully defend a belt.

Conversely, after losing the belt to Holly Holm in 2015, Rousey returned to her coach Edmund Tarverdyan to prepare her for the powerful punching combinations of Nunes. Rousey’s refusal to mix things up led many to believe that her hubris was blinding her ahead of one of the most difficult tests of her career and Nunes agrees, saying that the fight was over long before the stoppage came.

“I think it was ego. I knew she was gonna try to strike with me and I think that was the completely wrong strategy to fight a girl like me...

“When I landed I saw, in that moment I saw in her eyes she was done. That [first punch] was the moment that I saw something. Like scared; scared if I connect the other hand because it was the jab.”

Rousey has stayed pretty quiet about her future in the sport following the loss, releasing a brief statement congratulating Nunes and thanking her fans and then posting an inspirational quote to her Instagram account about rebuilding her life. And without a Rousey return, Nunes is left without a big name to continue to build herself against. Besides Rousey, the most well known women’s bantamweights are Miesha Tate, who is now retired, and Holly Holm, who is fighting Germaine de Randamie for the UFC’s inaugural women’s featherweight title next month. That suits Nunes just fine though. She plans to build her star by taking on the winner of that fight to become the first female simultaneous champion in UFC history.

“Next is the 145 [pound] belt, to move up to featherweight.”

After all, there are worse ways to promote yourself in MMA than following in the footsteps of Conor McGregor.

MUST-READ STORIES

Boxing. Nate Diaz is applying for a boxing license in Nevada.

Association. Tim Kennedy announced his retirement from MMA and is looking to fight for fighter rights now.

Postponement. World Series of Fighting has postponed its next event.

Force. Mark Hunt says the UFC “forced” the Alistair Overeem fight on him.

MEDIA STEW

Amanda on FSLive.

Lauzon’s vlog.

Chael on Ronda and training with Floyd.

Bob Arum on MacWeather talks.

I enjoyed it.

Chael weighs in on BJ.

A look inside the TriStar dorms.

LISTEN UP

Jack Slack.

Beatdown.

TJMS w/ Eric Stinton

TWEETS

Farewell.

Sitting in the ER at Saint Michael’s hospital in Toronto, Canada after my fight, I looked up at my buddy Nick...
Posted by Tim Kennedy on Tuesday, January 17, 2017

It was truly an honor to work with @timkennedymma during his amazing career. I learned so much from our time together, and I know that I have made a friend for life. You will always have my support. Much love and respect brother.

A photo posted by Brandon Gibson (@sixgungibson) on Jan 17, 2017 at 1:08pm PST

@TimKennedyMMA I hope you enjoy your retirement and it was a pleasure competing against you #GodBless #ynuevo
— Yoel Romero (@YoelRomeroMMA) January 17, 2017

Found ‘em.

So I flew into Mexico City and they "lost" our bags. They delivered them to us this morning and realized that customs stole all my hats
— Cub Swanson (@CubSwanson) January 17, 2017

got a bunch of authentic Cub Swanson hats to sell cheap, dM me for details pic.twitter.com/w4koO5aFF4
— superCalo (@superCalo) January 17, 2017

Friends.

Victory comes in many different ways! Had the opportunity to compete against my friend @bensaundersMMA on the biggest stage in the world. pic.twitter.com/AleA8QhLeV
— Court McGee (@Court_McGee) January 16, 2017

@Court_McGee it was amazing to compete with you too, we are now blood brothers 4 life!
— Ben Saunders (@bensaundersMMA) January 18, 2017

Very cool.

A lot of Gold in this picture! 2016 Olympic Gold medalist @helen_maroulis and @ufc Champion @thenotoriousmma

A photo posted by Coach Kavanagh (@coach_kavanagh) on Jan 17, 2017 at 1:34pm PST

Let the fun (aka training) begin! Excited to learn some new stuff from some great people #futureinmmapossibly? https://t.co/dkl2BRDg1B
— Helen Maroulis (@helen_maroulis) January 17, 2017

Not outrage like with Brock. Wonder why?

I'm back bitches. #UFCHouston pic.twitter.com/mZ3RcpUB87
— Angela Hill (@AngieOverkill) January 17, 2017

#basicallyclean.

Tested by usada again 2night Keeping the sport as clean as fuck

A photo posted by Neil Seery (@neilseery) on Jan 17, 2017 at 1:34pm PST

Gamebred.

Y'all must've forgot he's actually #3 I've been had mine since the early days y'all late to the show #easymoneycampaign #makeUFCgreatagain https://t.co/jKo6YT6cXu
— Jorge Masvidal UFC (@GamebredFighter) January 18, 2017

1-0 in boxing 1-0 in kickboxing undefeated in the streets #easymoney https://t.co/QbXF84Q50j
— Jorge Masvidal UFC (@GamebredFighter) January 18, 2017

Awesome.

Big respect to Croatian UFC Champ @stipemiocicufc ❤️#Croatia #UFC #MMA #respect #CRO #CROrules #respectful #empathy pic.twitter.com/2uGPSfCsOf
— Adriana Vukovich (@AdrianaVukovich) January 17, 2017

Awesome. Super exciting and I’m sure the fans will be interested now!

They'll be no trash talk towards @SpiderAnderson. Nothing but respect for this guy. We're both coming for the finish! #handraised #UFC208
— Derek Brunson (@DerekBrunson) January 17, 2017

Chasing.

@ChrisWeidmanUFC still won't answer his telephone. Why keep the future champ waiting, Chris? #scared @ufc @ESPNMMA https://t.co/8b9imQ6QpL
— Gegard Mousasi (@mousasi_mma) January 17, 2017

One of these men is a welterweight.

#UFCFortaleza's @VitorBelfort & @KGastelum square-off for the first time ahead of their bout on March 11! Tickets available this week!

A photo posted by ufc (@ufc) on Jan 17, 2017 at 5:49pm PST

FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Angela Hill (6-2) vs. Jessica Andrade (15-5); UFC Fight Night: Houston, Feb. 4.

Bethe Correia (10-2) vs. Marion Reneau (7-3); UFC Fight Night: Fortaleza, March 11.

Alex Nicholson (7-3) vs. Paul Henrique Costa (8-0); UFC Fight Night: Fortaleza, March 11.

TODAY IN MMA HISTORY

2015: Conor McGregor knocked out Dennis Siver at UFC Fight Night: Boston, securing himself a shot at the UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo. It was the last time McGregor wouldn’t be fighting on a pay-per-view event.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Take it easy everyone and see y’all tomorrow.

If you find something you'd like to see in the Morning Report, just hit me up on Twitter @JedKMeshew and let me know about it. Also follow MMAFighting on Instagram and add us on Snapchat at MMA-Fighting because we post dope things and you should enjoy them.