With UFC 163 win, Amanda Nunes focused on title but open to Alexis Davis rematch

Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate may not have the only rivalry in the UFC’s burgeoning women’s bantamweight division.

With a successful promotional debut at Saturday’s UFC 163 event in her native Brazil, Amanda Nunes said her sights are set solely on a title fight. But before she gets there, she’s opening to settling some unfinished business.

In an FX-televised preliminary-card bout at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena, Nunes (8-3 MMA, 1-0 UFC) needed a little more than two minutes to fight off a rear-naked-choke attempt and score a TKO victory over Sheila Gaff (10-6-1 MMA, 0-2 UFC).

Nunes said everything surprisingly went to plan.

“I think (with) Sheila’s game, I think everyone who watched Sheila fight knows she’s very aggressive,” Nunes said after the bout. “But today was different. I think she respected me a lot. I even thought it was strange because I had worked out for her to come up and to counterattack based on her strategy. But that was something that was totally different to what I had practiced.

“So everything worked out. I practiced everything. It wasn’t just something that happened by chance. Everything that happened in the fight we did practice, and that’s it. I got a knock out.”

The Strikeforce vet and recent Invicta FC competitor, who’s also a longtime boxer with a solid ground game, has now posted seven knockouts in eight career wins. However, she was on the receiving end of one in 2011 and would like a chance to get to avenge the defeat.

Luckily for the 25-year-old Nunes, her opponent, who recently defeated Rosi Sexton in her UFC debut, also is now in the UFC.

“I lost to Alexis Davis in Strikeforce,” said Nunes, who suffered a second-round loss to the Canadian under the Strikeforce banner two years ago. “I’d love to have a rematch with her in the UFC. That’s someone I would really like to fight against.”

The reason for wanting the Davis rematch is that Nunes knows the current title picture is crowded. Current champ Rousey and rival Tate meet in December at UFC 168 following their coaching stints on “The Ultimate Fighter 18.” Injured top contender Cat Zingano could be up next after that, and later this month, a UFC Fight Night 27 bout between Olympic silver medalist Sara McMann and former Strikeforce champion Sarah Kaufman should put the winner within reach of a title shot.

So despite Saturday’s big win and her title hopes, Nunes knows she may need to prove herself again.

“Right now I’m very close to my target to go for the belt,” she said. “I think if we have an opportunity to go straight to the title bout, I might have to face another opponent. So I’m close. I think I’m really close to the belt.”

For more on UFC 163, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.