UFC: Nunes vs Shields Potential Super Fight Odds

Arguably the greatest women’s MMA practitioner ever, Amanda “Lioness” Nunes, made her fifth bantamweight title defense at UFC 245 in mid-December against Germaine de Randamie. Meanwhile, a familiar face to many boxing fans appeared at many of the events, like the weigh-ins, leading up to UFC 245 and that was undefeated and undisputed women’s middleweight champion Claressa “T-Rex” Shields. With the two-time Olympic gold medalist in attendance, many rumors started to swirl about a potential super fight between Shields and Nunes.

Online sportsbook Sportsbook has released odds on whether the two will meet in an MMA-sanctioned event and, if so, what the fight odds would be.

Odds Analysis

There are two options you can wager on, the first being “Will Amanda Nunes and Claressa Shields fight in a sanctioned MMA fight in 2020?” with the “No” being favored at -900 and “Yes” coming back at +550. The second is odds for Amanda Nunes vs Claressa Shields in a UFC-sanctioned match in 2020. The UFC champ, Nunes, is the -700 favorite in that potential bout with Shields coming back at +450.

I’ll start with whether these two competitors will fight in 2020. At the UFC 245 post-fight press conference, Nunes was almost dismissive of a potential super fight between the two, while Shields and UFC president Dana White were a little more optimistic about this scrap.

Firstly, Shields fights at middleweight, which is 154 pounds, nine more than the weight for a potential title fight with Nunes for her featherweight title. I’m sure Shields can adjust her diet and cut down to 145 so I’m not terribly worried there. T-Rex said she would need six months to a year to train in MMA – mostly wrestling defense, I’d imagine – before she stepped into the Octagon. Would the UFC give her a warm-up fight before feeding her to Nunes? If so, that would push the timeline for a meeting between the two into 2021 at the earliest, so the No at -900 seems like the best wager.

Odds as of December 19 at Sportsbook

Now, if by some chance this fight gets announced, bet the house, garage, farm, children, everything you have on Nunes at -700. In six months to a year, a boxer will not learn wrestling defense well enough to stop a shot from Lioness. Additionally, although Shields has remarkable footwork and speed in the boxing ring, I don’t know how she would react to one of Nunes’ powerful kicks, either high or low. The UFC champ would have to make mistakes for T-Rex to effectively hit her and I just don’t see that happening – it would be one-sided domination for Nunes, in my opinion, much like Randy Couture vs James Toney at UFC 118.

Odds as of December 19 at Sportsbook