Nunes jabs at Rousey ahead of UFC 207 bout
Amanda Nunes was informed by the UFC that since Ronda Rousey was not participating in Wednesday’s news conference and public workout, Nunes didn’t have to, either.
“I don’t know what is wrong with this girl, I’m going to be honest with you,” Nunes told a small group of reporters Tuesday. “If she wants to play these games, she’s playing with the wrong person. I’m very focused and I know how I’m going to stop her. I can’t wait.”
Brazil’s Nunes (13-4) became the UFC women’s bantamweight champion in July when she hammered Miesha Tate with 40 punches and submitted her by rear naked chokehold in just 1 minute, 43 seconds.
While Rousey (12-1) has seemed to shrivel in defeat since her second-round, head-kick loss to Holly Holm in November 2015 in Australia — including taking an extended break from the octagon and limiting her public comments — Nunes comes to Friday’s UFC 207 main event emboldened by the scars of her own losses.
She’s been stopped by two fighters – Cat Zingano and Alexis Davis – who Rousey has finished by armbar in the first round.
“Every fight and fighter goes through a lot of up and downs,” Nunes said. “But everything has already passed and now my focus is on the future and everything is good. Everything has moved forward. Not moved back. Me, I will move forward and be getting better and better.
“I want to step in, see what she’s going to bring, and whatever it is, I’ll be ready. I watched [the Holm fight] and took a couple things. [Rousey] made a lot of mistakes. That’s the real Ronda Rousey. From that fight, I took a lot of lot of things and put them in my strategy.”
Rousey appears to be employing a defiant, silent strategy to effectively deal with the frustration of her mystique-shattering loss to Holm, or she’s rattled by the effects of the humbling thumping. Still, Rousey is favored by oddsmakers for Friday’s bout.
The former champion has declined an interview request at her Glendale gym and rejected typical UFC media commitments. Rousey also walked off stage instead of speaking as Nunes did at a November faceoff at Madison Square Garden last month.
“Everything she does right now is a part of her game,” Nunes said. “This is not going to affect me. Nothing’s going to change the thing I’m going to do that night. … This is going to be one more night I surprise the world.”
Nunes said Rousey’s decision to not honor media commitments this week is “good for me … . I like to train, step in the cage, do my job. I can rest, focus on my training, losing weight and that’s it. If I had to do it, no problem, but it’s my second language, so it’s still a little hard for me. She’s helped me a little bit.
“UFC pretty much [told me I was off the hook], that ‘You don’t have anything to do.’ I was like, ‘Yes.’ If they tell me, for sure I’d do the open workout. They’re supposed to force you to do it, but … .”
Nunes laughed when asked if she could ever get away with the same request.
“OK, they love Ronda Rousey,” Nunes said. “What are you going to do? Kick her ass. I will do it.”
Despite reports of Rousey’s superior physical condition, the uncertainty about her mental state is adding drama for Friday’s main event. Nunes expresses appreciation for Rousey’s celebrity, along with the “She’s Back” billboards that hype the bout.
“This is the thing I want … Ronda Rousey is the big name in this division,” Nunes said. “Only she is going to make this possible. Whatever they want to do with this promotion, they can do, but at the end of the day I am the best. I am the champion. I will keep the belt.
“Whatever they want with Ronda Rousey to make this more huge, then thank you. People expect she will come back. I think it will still be a huge pay-per-view sell because this is the question. You guys want to see her, right? Even though she is not here to talk to, you guys still want to see her?
“Me, too.”
UFC 207
When: Friday.
Television/times: 4:30 p.m. Pacific (first bouts on UFC Fight pass); 5 p.m. (Fox Sports 1 preliminary fights); 7 p.m. (pay-per-view, $59.95).
Where: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas.
Main event: Amanda Nunes (13-4), Brazil, vs. Ronda Rousey (12-1), Venice, for Nunes’ UFC women’s bantamweight belt.
Undercard: Dominick Cruz vs. Cody Garbrandt for Cruz’s bantamweight belt; T.J. Dillashaw vs. John Lineker, bantamweights.
Twitter: @latimespugmire
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