Fight history
Nunes vs. Rousey, UFC 207: The 48 Seconds, the Stats and the Stoppage
Rousey came back after 13 months as the betting favorite against the champion. Nunes's first combination rocked her, and the official count shows how one-sided the 48 seconds were.
Nunes
RouseyAt a glance
- ResultNunes by TKO (punches), round 1, 0:48; referee Herb Dean
- The stakesNunes's first defense of the women's bantamweight title; Rousey's first fight in 13 months, since losing to Holly Holm
- The oddsRousey, the challenger, was the favorite: -140 on Sherdog's listing, -175 on SI's
- The statsSignificant strikes 27-7 to Nunes, 23 of hers to the head; no takedown attempts
- The judgesNo round was completed, so no scorecard exists
- Our verdictA correct stoppage and a complete win for Nunes
What was at stake
The women's bantamweight title, and the return of the fighter who had built the division. Ronda Rousey was the UFC's first women's champion and defended the title six times, as UFC.com and Sports Illustrated both record. Then, in November 2015, Holly Holm knocked her out with a head kick in the second round at UFC 193, Rousey's first defeat, as the AP, SI and the official record show. Rousey did not fight again for 13 months, which the AP, UFC.com and theScore all note.
The belt moved on without her. Holm lost it to Miesha Tate in March 2016, and Amanda Nunes stopped Tate at UFC 200 that July, as SI, the AP and the official record all show. No champion had defended the title since Rousey beat Bethe Correia in August 2015, UFC.com and SI point out. UFC 207 on December 30, 2016, was Nunes's first defense, and Rousey was the challenger.
The challenger was the favorite anyway. Sherdog's listing the day before the fight had Rousey at -140 and Nunes at +110; SI, using OddsShark, had Rousey at -175 and Nunes at +145. Rousey did not take part in promoting the fight, as the AP and SI both report. Her guaranteed purse was $3 million and Nunes's was $200,000, according to the AP and SI.
Watch the fight
The UFC has put the whole fight on its official YouTube channel. It lasts 48 seconds; tap to play it here.
The official result and the judges
| Winner | Method | Round | Time | Referee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amanda Nunes | TKO (punches) | 1 of 5 | 0:48 | Herb Dean |
The official statistics, Sherdog, CBS Sports and UFC.com all give the time as 0:48 and name Herb Dean as the referee. The official record lists the finish as punches to the head at distance.
There are no judges' cards to print. The fight was stopped 48 seconds into a scheduled five rounds, so no round was ever scored. It was the third-fastest knockout in UFC women's bantamweight history, Sherdog notes, and the two faster ones were Rousey's own: 16 seconds against Alexis Davis and 34 seconds against Correia, which SI also lists. The result took Nunes to 14-4 and Rousey to 12-2, as the AP, Sherdog and UFC.com all report, and Nunes's seventh UFC win gave her the most in the division's history, according to Sherdog and SI.
Round by round
Round 1 - Nunes by TKO at 0:48
Nunes attacked from the opening bell, as CBS Sports and UFC.com both describe, and her first combination rocked Rousey, which the AP and Fox Sports both report. Rousey tried to keep Nunes away with kicks, as UFC.com and Fox Sports both describe, and Nunes walked through them.
From there Nunes backed Rousey toward the fence, which Sherdog's play-by-play and UFC.com both describe, punching to the head and digging to the body; the official count has Nunes landing all three body shots she threw. Rousey's legs went. Sherdog has her "on wobbly legs", the AP has her stumbling backward and Fox Sports has her wobbling. Rousey stayed at range and traded rather than closing the distance, and she never tried a takedown, which the official count and Fox Sports both show.
The end came at the fence. A final right hand brought in referee Herb Dean at 0:48, as UFC.com and Fox Sports both report, with Rousey still on her feet, which the AP and Sherdog both note. For a moment Rousey seemed ready to carry on: the AP says she briefly protested, and Sherdog's play-by-play has her confused at first and ready to keep fighting. Rousey's face was bloodied, which Sherdog and UFC.com both describe.
On the official count, Nunes landed 27 of 47 significant strikes, 23 of them to the head, and all 27 at distance. Rousey landed 7 of 14, 6 of them to the head. There were no takedown attempts, no control time and no official knockdown.
What the numbers say
The official statistics for the 48 seconds (landed/thrown for strikes, landed/attempted for takedowns):
| Fighter | KD | Sig. strikes | Sig. % | Head | Body | Legs | Distance | Clinch | Total | TD | Control |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nunes | 0 | 27/47 | 57% | 23/43 | 3/3 | 1/1 | 27/46 | 0/1 | 27/47 | 0/0 | 0:00 |
| Rousey | 0 | 7/14 | 50% | 6/12 | 1/1 | 0/1 | 7/14 | 0/0 | 7/14 | 0/0 | 0:00 |
Nunes threw 47 significant strikes in 48 seconds, close to one a second, and landed one every 1.8 seconds. Every strike either fighter threw counted as significant: the total and significant columns are identical for both. Nunes landed nearly four times as many as Rousey, and 23 of her 27 went to the head.
The more telling numbers are Rousey's, set against her UFC career. The official statistics for each of her UFC fights (fight time in total; significant strikes landed by Rousey at distance, in the clinch and on the ground; her takedowns; significant strikes landed by her opponent):
| Event | Opponent | Result | Time | Distance | Clinch | Ground | TD | Opp. sig. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UFC 157 | Liz Carmouche | W, sub R1 | 4:49 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1/1 | 4 |
| UFC 168 | Miesha Tate | W, sub R3 | 10:58 | 7 | 17 | 16 | 6/8 | 24 |
| UFC 170 | Sara McMann | W, KO/TKO R1 | 1:06 | 2 | 12 | 0 | 0/0 | 13 |
| UFC 175 | Alexis Davis | W, KO/TKO R1 | 0:16 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 1/1 | 2 |
| UFC 184 | Cat Zingano | W, sub R1 | 0:14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0 |
| UFC 190 | Bethe Correia | W, KO/TKO R1 | 0:34 | 5 | 14 | 0 | 0/0 | 9 |
| UFC 193 | Holly Holm | L, KO/TKO R2 | 5:59 | 13 | 4 | 0 | 0/1 | 38 |
| UFC 207 | Amanda Nunes | L, KO/TKO R1 | 0:48 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 27 |
In her six UFC wins, Rousey landed 75 of her 94 significant strikes in the clinch or on the ground and completed 8 of 10 takedowns. In her last two fights she landed 20 of her 24 at distance and attempted one takedown in total. Against Nunes every strike she landed came at distance, with nothing in the clinch and no takedown attempt. Rousey fought the fight the champion wanted.
The last column is what she absorbed. Across her six UFC wins, 17 minutes and 57 seconds of fighting, her opponents landed 52 significant strikes between them, and the most in any one fight was Tate's 24 over nearly 11 minutes. Nunes landed 27 in 48 seconds. What the totals cannot show is when the damage was done: the AP and Fox Sports both have Rousey rocked by the first combination, so Rousey spent most of the fight hurt.
How we scored it
| Part of round 1 | MMA.SOCIAL | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The opening | Nunes | Her first combination rocked Rousey, and Rousey's kicks did not keep her off. |
| At the fence | Nunes, clearly | 27-7 in significant strikes over the 48 seconds, 23 to the head. Rousey was hurt, stayed at range and attempted no takedown. |
| The stoppage | Correct | Rousey was standing but taking clean right hands without answering them. |
| Result | Nunes by TKO, 0:48 | No round was completed, so there is no score to give. |
There is no card to argue with, because no judge wrote one. The question that does come up is whether Herb Dean stopped it too soon. We do not think he did. Rousey was hurt from the first combination, she was taking flush punches at the fence, and she was neither tying Nunes up nor trying to take her down. Sherdog's play-by-play has her "out on her feet, still absorbing punches" when Dean stepped in, and Sherdog's report called it "a merciful stoppage". A fighter does not have to fall for a referee to stop a fight. Rousey protested briefly, but nothing in the reports or the numbers suggests she was about to turn it around.
Nor was it a lucky punch. In 48 seconds Nunes landed more significant strikes on Rousey than any opponent had landed in any of Rousey's six UFC wins. Rousey, back after 13 months, chose to stand and trade with a champion who wanted exactly that, and it was the wrong fight for her.
What happened next
Rousey left the cage straight after the fight and missed the press conference, as Fox Sports and theScore both report. "She's devastated," Dana White said, according to Fightful and Bleacher Report. The next day Rousey gave a statement to ESPN, which SI and theScore both reprint: "Returning to not just fighting, but winning, was my entire focus this past year." She credited the women's division and Nunes, and said: "I need to take some time to reflect and think about the future."
Nunes was blunt at the press conference. "Yeah, that's it for her. For sure she's going to retire," she said, as Fox Sports and theScore both report, adding: "If she wants the rematch, I'm going to do the same thing." She also said she had told Rousey after the fight that she had done a lot for the sport, which Fox Sports, SI and UFC.com all carry. About a month later Nunes apologized on Instagram. "I might have said or posted some things at the time that I now realize was not the right thing to do," she wrote, as SI and LowKick MMA both print it, and: "Ronda is an amazing athlete and has done so much for this sport, especially for the women." Nunes took a Performance of the Night bonus, and the event drew 18,533 fans and a $4.75 million gate, Fightful and Fox Sports both report.
Rousey never fought in the UFC again. She joined WWE in January 2018, UFC.com and SI report, and that July she became the first woman in the UFC Hall of Fame, according to UFC.com and SI. Her one return to MMA came nine and a half years after UFC 207: on May 16, 2026, on a card streamed by Netflix, she submitted Gina Carano with an armbar 17 seconds in, as the AP and Al Jazeera both report. Both list her at 13-2, and both say she called it her last fight.
Nunes kept the bantamweight title for five more years. She beat Valentina Shevchenko a second time at UFC 215 in September 2017, as the official record and CBS Sports show, and on December 29, 2018, at UFC 232, she knocked out Cris Cyborg in 51 seconds to become the first woman to hold two UFC titles at once, according to theScore and CBS Sports. She lost the bantamweight title to Julianna Pena by second-round submission in December 2021 and won it back in July 2022, as theScore and the official record show. On June 10, 2023, after beating Irene Aldana at UFC 289, she retired at 23-5, theScore and MMA Junkie report.
Nunes is coming back. When Kayla Harrison won the title by submitting Pena in the second round at UFC 316 in June 2025, Nunes faced off with her in the cage, as CBS Sports and theScore both report. "This is the greatest fighter of all time," Harrison said of Nunes, in the words both outlets print. Their fight was set for UFC 324 in January 2026 until Harrison withdrew for neck surgery, theScore and Cageside Press report, and it is now the co-main event of UFC 334 on November 14, 2026, for Harrison's title, according to Heavy and Sherdog. Like Rousey, Harrison came to MMA from Olympic judo: Harrison is a two-time Olympic champion, CBS Sports and Fortune note, and Rousey won bronze in 2008, according to UFC.com and SI. And as against Rousey, Nunes is the underdog. Heavy's opening line had Harrison at -300 and Nunes at +247; Sherdog's had Harrison at -210 and Nunes at +175 in September, and -190 and +161 by October 29.
The verdict
Nunes vs. Rousey is not a disputed result, and it was not a fluke. The champion went into her own title fight as the underdog, walked through the challenger's kicks and landed 27 significant strikes in 48 seconds, more than any opponent had landed in any of Rousey's six UFC wins. Herb Dean's stoppage was correct. Rousey deserves the credit she still gets for building the division, and Nunes deserves to have this remembered as the night she proved the title was hers. On November 14, nearly three and a half years after she retired, Nunes is the underdog again.
Full fight stats: Nunes vs. Rousey. The rest of the night: UFC 207. More: the most title fights in UFC history.
Sources
- UFCStats round-by-round statistics (scrape_ufc_stats mirror)
- UFCStats fight results, method and referee (scrape_ufc_stats mirror)
- Sherdog - Amanda Nunes shreds Ronda Rousey to retain UFC women's bantamweight title
- Sherdog - UFC 207 results: play-by-play and updates
- Sherdog - UFC 207: By the Numbers
- Sherdog - UFC 207 betting odds: Rousey remains slight favorite over champ Nunes
- UFC.com - Nunes retains crown after Rousey KO
- UFC.com - UFC 207: Nunes vs. Rousey final results and news
- Associated Press via KTVU - Ronda Rousey stopped 48 seconds into comeback at UFC 207
- Sports Illustrated - Amanda Nunes defeats Ronda Rousey with first-round TKO at UFC 207
- Sports Illustrated - UFC 207 odds: Rousey vs. Nunes
- Sports Illustrated - Rousey's statement after UFC 207
- CBS Sports - UFC 207 results: Nunes obliterates Rousey with first-round TKO
- Fox Sports - UFC 207 results: Amanda Nunes silences Ronda Rousey
- Fox Sports - Amanda Nunes on Ronda Rousey: 'That's it for her'
- theScore - Nunes thinks Rousey will retire
- theScore - Rousey issues statement following loss to Nunes
- Fightful - UFC 207 bonuses, attendance and live gate
- Fox Sports - UFC 207 bonuses: Cruz-Garbrandt, Nunes and Garcia get paid
- Fightful - Dana White said Ronda Rousey was devastated after UFC 207
- Bleacher Report - Dana White on a devastated Ronda Rousey after UFC 207
- Sports Illustrated - Amanda Nunes apologizes to Ronda Rousey
- LowKick MMA - Amanda Nunes offers apology to Ronda Rousey
- UFC.com - Rousey the first woman selected for the UFC Hall of Fame
- Sports Illustrated - Ronda Rousey becomes first woman inducted into UFC Hall of Fame
- UFC.com - Rousey makes WWE debut at the Royal Rumble
- Associated Press via Fox Sports - Rousey stops Carano with an armbar 17 seconds in
- Al Jazeera - Rousey wins with a 17-second submission
- theScore - Nunes knocks out Cyborg in 51 seconds to become two-weight champ
- CBS Sports - UFC 232 results: Nunes finishes Cyborg in under a minute
- theScore - Nunes retires after dominating Aldana
- MMA Junkie via Yahoo Sports - UFC 289 results: Nunes retires
- CBS Sports - UFC 316 results: Harrison wins title, faces off with Nunes
- theScore - Harrison submits Pena to win UFC women's bantamweight title
- theScore - Harrison injured, out of UFC 324 fight with Nunes
- Cageside Press - Harrison out of UFC 324, fight with Nunes postponed
- Heavy - UFC 334: Gane vs. Hokit officially announced
- Heavy - UFC 334 betting odds for two title fights
- Sherdog - UFC 334 odds: Gane and Harrison favored in title fights
- Sherdog via Yahoo Sports - UFC 334 odds: Nunes returns as underdog
- Fortune (TIME) - Kayla Harrison's judo gold and Ronda Rousey
Questions
Who won Nunes vs. Rousey?
Amanda Nunes, by TKO (punches) 48 seconds into the first round at UFC 207 on December 30, 2016. It was her first defense of the UFC women's bantamweight title and Ronda Rousey's first fight in 13 months.
How long did Nunes vs. Rousey last?
48 seconds. Referee Herb Dean stopped it at 0:48 of the first round, the third-fastest knockout in UFC women's bantamweight history; the two faster ones were Rousey's own wins over Alexis Davis and Bethe Correia.
Was the Nunes vs. Rousey stoppage early?
We do not think so. Rousey was rocked by Nunes's first combination and was taking clean punches at the fence without answering when Herb Dean stepped in. She was still standing and briefly protested, but the official count had Nunes ahead 27 to 7 in significant strikes.
How much did Ronda Rousey make for UFC 207?
Her guaranteed purse was $3 million and Amanda Nunes's was $200,000, as the AP and Sports Illustrated reported. Nunes also earned a Performance of the Night bonus.
Did Ronda Rousey fight again after losing to Amanda Nunes?
Not in the UFC. She joined WWE in 2018 and returned to MMA once, on May 16, 2026, when she submitted Gina Carano with an armbar in 17 seconds on a card streamed by Netflix. She said it would be her last fight.
Who is Amanda Nunes fighting next?
Kayla Harrison, for the UFC women's bantamweight title in the co-main event of UFC 334 on November 14, 2026. It is Nunes's first fight since she retired in June 2023, and the betting has her as the underdog.
