“It Was a Really Easy Fight”- Coach Weighs in on Amanda Nunes vs Ronda Rousey

There was a time when Ronda Rousey was simply untouchable. During her run in the UFC, fans hailed her as the greatest female mixed martial artist of all time.

However, her meteoric rise ended with a devastating fall after she met with consecutive defeats inside the Octagon. Nonetheless, Amanda Nunes’ coach, Din Thomas, always knew that Ronda Rousey was not worth the hype.

Ronda was the first female fighter to sign with the UFC. She was also the inaugural Women’s Bantamweight champ. However, her unprecedented run in the UFC had a sharp fall at the end.

She lost the belt to Holly Holm at UFC 193. Aggravated by her first professional defeat, “Rowdy” attempted a quick turn around against Amanda Nunes.

The UFC scheduled Ronda Rousey vs Amanda Nunes for UFC 207 at the end of 2016. Despite coming off a loss, Ronda was the betting favorite heading into the fight. However, Nunes’ coach, Din Thomas, was sure that the former champ could be defeated pretty easily.

“I think the first one that I really invested so much into, that I put into, was Amanda and Ronda Rousey,” Din Thomas said while talking to MMA Junkie Radio. “And this was when I was like, ‘This is a fool’s bet.’ Because Amanda was the underdog in that fight, I think. After studying Ronda, I realized that she was ‘smoke and mirrors,’ is what I could say, and she wasn’t as good as everybody thought she was.”

Din Thomas always knew Ronda Rousey would be an easy fight for Amanda Nunes

There were a lot of uncertainties after Holly Holm defeated Ronda Rousey. Hence, when fans got to know that Rousey was returning to fight Amanda Nunes, there was a lot of hope and hype around her return.

Instead, the fight turned out to be hugely one-sided. It took Nunes only 48 seconds to put Rousey on her back, not literally though. Nunes’ power punches rocked Rousey. As Ronda struggled to stay on her feet, referee Herb Dean stepped in to stop the fight.

Din Thomas had analyzed Rousey’s striking while he helped Amanda prepare for the fight. His analysis had a simple conclusion. If Nunes executed the gameplan perfectly inside the Octagon, it would be a really easy outing for her.

“She did some things better than everybody else, but she wasn’t as good as everybody thought she was,” Thomas said. “So I put a lot of effort into that, and I watched her, and I saw that she would throw punches at the same time with two different hands, and she was really awkward in certain spots.

“So I was like, ‘Wow, this is gonna be a really easy fight for Amanda.’ And it turned out to be a really easy fight for Amanda.”

The defeat affected Rousey in a big manner. She even retired from MMA and went on to explore a new career in pro-wrestling.

In a contrasting turn of fate, the victory was the point when Nunes became a mainstream name in MMA. She would go on to become the only fighter to hold two UFC belts.