Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Title Reigns

6. Amanda Nunes

UFC Bantamweight Champion, 2016-2021

Sherdog's greatest pound-for-pound female fighter ever finishes a respectable sixth here. Nunes won the title from Miesha Tate 2016 in a three-minute thrashing ending with a rear-naked choke, then defended it successfully five times before losing it to Julianna Pena in 2021.

Nunes attained a level of fighting that no other woman has during this time, being a tremendous threat anywhere a fight went. She had excellent wrestling, arguably the best in her division, fantastic, slick submission skills and brutal ground-and-pound. Of course, her biggest weapon was her fast, technical, and above all, viciously powerful striking, arguably the best in WMMA history at any weight. Four of Nunes' five defenses were blistering dominations, needing just 48 seconds to knockout an overwhelmed Ronda Rousey, finishing Holly Holm with a head kick at the end of the first round, beating up Raquel Pennington mercilessly before the fight was stopped in the fifth, and giving Germaine de Randamie no chance in their rematch with repeated takedowns to win an easy decision. However, the fifth defense, which occurred in 2017 against Valentina Shevchenko, was very even. Nunes won the split decision but a slight majority, myself included, felt the significantly smaller Shevchenko had edged out the victory. Then, in what I consider the second most shocking upset in UFC championship history, surpassing Georges St. Pierre losing by knockout by Matt Serra, and only behind Maurice Smith defeating Mark Coleman, Nunes was submitted in round 2 by Julianna Pena as a -1100 favorite.

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