06 July, 2017
In the main event, women's bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes (14-4 MMA, 7-1 UFC) puts her title on the line against Valentina Shevchenko (14-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) in a rematch from early a year ago.
With attention focused elsewhere, the Brazilian challenger walked into the Octagon and handed Miesha Tate a first-class ass whoopin' to win the title. If she can drive down Nunes' striking aggression, she will probably have the advantage. Nunes is about as fast as Shevchenko but more powerful and much more willing to take a bite out of whatever is offered her.
Bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes will look to defend her belt for a second time against a familiar foe. Seconds later, the battered Tate meekly tapped out and a new champion was crowned.
What can we expect in the main event?
It was a fight Nunes won by unanimous decision.After some promotion that was so freakish and stagnant as to nearly border on anti-promotion, Rousey stepped into the cage with Nunes with her trademark scowl and snorting intact. I believe that's the main reason so many have already bet on her to extract revenge and capture the UFC women's bantamweight crown on Saturday night.
So what should fight fans expect in the rematch? After Nunes announced that she would transition to training and fighting full-time in 2015, some hoped she would quickly develop a long game; however, the first fight with Shevchenko was almost another typical loss for the Brazilian, who faded badly by the third round.
In theory, that's how it should work.
"Honestly, my thought was like, in the medical room and I was down in the corner", she reflected.
The champion is much more of a finisher than the challenger.
But that isn't the case. It was a fight in which Nunes dominated for the first two rounds.
The main card and the preliminary fights will be shown live on BT Sport 2. An 11-day, 10-city media tour followed and even when Aldo was forced from the bout a couple weeks prior to the event, the media onslaught kept rolling right into McGregor's interim title clash with Chad Mendes. But that has led to her gassing out in fights.
This fight will come down to if Nunes can score that early knockout, or at least get a substantial lead in points early on in the fight. Since September 2014 the champion has finished all of her opponents inside the first round, except for one, Shevchenko.
Shevchenko is more of a methodical fighter than her counterpart. Nunes battered Rousey for 48 seconds until the leading lady of mixed martial arts couldn't handle anymore.
We are a little over four days away from the UFC's sixth pay-per-view card of 2017.
