Amanda Nunes Gave Away UFC 215 Championship Belt to Cancer Survivor
Amanda Nunes might not be someone you want to meet in an octagon, but she showed her kind nature this weekend once she stepped out of it. After capturing the UFC 215 championship belt on Saturday, she gave it to a 19-year-old cancer survivor whom she developed a rapport with, according to TMZ Sports.
“She saw me, the only girl standing in the rain at the bus exit, and told the driver to stop as the bus was driving away,” Angie Rose wrote on her reddit page. The doors opened, a man stepped out and said to the small group of guys there that “she wanted to meet the girl.”
Rose said she gave Nunes, the UFC women’s bantamweight champion, some homemade bracelets, and, in turn, received the belt. Nunes, who is 29 and hails from Brazil, reportedly told Rose that she was “the real champion.”
“Hearing those words means so much to me after I have battled through nine years of sickness, sadness, pain and suffering with off again, on again cancer,” said Rose. “It is now gone but I need a lung transplant. UFC and MMA has really been a great distraction as I am always looking forward to the next big fight!”
The Brazilian – who is also the first openly gay champion in UFC history, is a shameless destroyer who has a habit of quickly bludgeoning opponents before putting them away inside the first round – is also the all-time leader in wins and knockouts, and she also shares a piece of the leaderboard for most victories by stoppage, all records which Ronda Rousey used to have sole possession of before she faded away from the spotlight following back-to-back losses to Nunes and Holly Holm.
“I’m the champion and I’m the best in the world,” Nunes told Rolling Stone. “I cleaned [out] this division. I beat this girl [Shevchenko] already. I beat her already, and I’m going to do it again.” And she did on September 9th at the pay-per-view event at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, which was her ninth in the division, tying with Miesha Tate for the most appearances in history.