Bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes was so focused on the task of signing the official posters for UFC 207 that she took a long time to notice that her girlfriend and training partner Nina Ansaroff brought her a glass of juice.
"That's a good girlfriend; the rest is just not worth it,” Nunes said with a smile.
A few days away from from fighting the biggest battle of her career against former champion Ronda Rousey, Nunes knows her biggest supporter is by her side 24/7. The relationship goes back about four years, when both were barely known to the public eye.
"It's something we always knew was gonna happen from the first time we met,” said Ansaroff, who has her own UFC bout on the horizon next month in Phoenix. "It's not like I met her, and she was the champion, and I had to adapt. We kind of gradually went into it.
"Because it came slowly, it was easier to adapt to, rather than just being thrown into being the champion's girlfriend. It's something that we came into together, so it's been easier to handle that way."
Nunes and Ansaroff arrived in Las Vegas last week so that the champion could adapt to the altitude and dry weather of the city. With both being in training camp, neither really enjoyed Christmas as they wished, but they have already planned a party for the start of 2017, right after Ansaroff faces Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger on Jan. 15.
"We say it's gonna be Christmas, it's just gonna come a little bit later,” Ansaroff said. "Her present is gonna be on Friday, and then we're gonna celebrate the New Year. I fight two weeks after that, and then we're gonna have a real celebration.”
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Within just a few minutes of talk, it is clear that both athletes' focus is on Friday's matchup. While Nunes had her makeup done for the official photo shoot, Nina shared the plans for her partner to defeat the most dominant champion any women's division has ever seen in the UFC, and to become the first to defend the belt since Holly Holm's infamous kick.
"I think Amanda is very well-rounded, and anywhere that Ronda puts the fight, Amanda is more dangerous, explosive, and she can dictate the fight better,” Ansaroff said. "I think that when she feels the power of Amanda, not just in her hands, but in her hips when she does try to take her down — because Amanda has a strong base — she is gonna get a little frustrated and is gonna show more of her mistakes, and that's when Amanda will be able to capitalize.”
Davi Correia is a multimedia journalist for UFC.com.br. Follow him on Twitter at @davicorreia
