Amanda Nunes vs Jorina "JoJo" Baars?

[Richard Fannin]

I've been thinking about this match-up for a while now.
I know that "JoJo" did poorly in MMA when she gave it a try back a decade ago, going 1-3 (plus another loss in her only amateur MMA bout back in 2005 for Shooto Holland) in our favorite sport.



As far as I know she is still the woman GOAT when it comes to Muay Thai. Feel free to correct me, I'm not super knowledgeable in women's MMA/Striking sports/grappling, etc...

But she is still 51-1 (and 3 draws) in Muay-Thai, and she was undefeated before 2019; that year produced a bogus split decision loss against Chris Breuer in 2019, which almost no one considers an actual loss...

What sucks even more is that Jorina's only MT "loss" before that was another infamous robbery back in 2009 during a tournament, against Netherlander Orinta van der Zee.
That decision was so controversial that It was officially contested, and was later overturned.
It's difficult to find articles in English about it, so I have no idea what happened.
I have watched the fight though, and I have no idea how Orinta could have gotten the nod from competent and/or impartial judges...

I suppose lots of people, like me, discovered Baars because of her win over Cyborg at Lyon Fight back in 2014, under Muay Thai rules.

I watched that bout because lots of people were calling Baars the Muay Thai GOAT even back in 2014, and were saying that Cyborg was gonna get whipped, which she was.

Cyborg lost a decision, but she got lucky since a few of her knockdowns got counted as slips by the ref, so officially it wasn't a stoppage. With a different ref, it could have been.

Ever since that fight I kinda kept an eye on Jorina, and was happy to see her do well in Bellator Kickboxing where she won her 3 fights, and it was painful to watch her lose that bogus split decision in China against Christina Breuer in 2019 at ONE...

At least she won her come-back fight this year at Lion Fight, winning the WW belt against English kickboxer Claire Clements (WTKA K1 English Champion 63kg; WTKA Intercontinental Champion 63kg; DUEL K1 National Title 63kg; WBC Regional Champion 66.6kg; WKA World Muay Thai Champion 66kg, etc etc etc)

Which means that if we don't count that extremely shady decision against Breuer, then Jorina Baars hasn't lost a fight since 2009, her only loss in 56 pro MT/KB fights.

MY QUESTION:

Considering Jorina's previous MMA venture, she has no business fighting Amanda Nunes under that particular set of rules.

But with all the cross fights between boxing and MMA, and even the weird mixed rules from Triller's TRIAD
(mixed rules for MMA sound retard, since MMA has mixed in its name)

Do you think there would be some interest if JoJo Baars called Nunes out for a boxing match?

Or even better, a boxing match with clinching allowed, like in that TRIAD event that was actually pretty fun IMHO (trashy, and the rules were biased against Team MMA, but still entertaining)

It would be some sort of middle ground, as neither woman would be able to use their favorite weapons, but boxing is where the money is at right now, and the MMA female GOAT vs the Muay Thai female GOAT, if advertised well, could potentially do good.


I know, I know, that scumfuck Dana White would never allow it... but if he allowed Conor to box Floyd, maybe Nunes could put some pressure on him?

TL;DR:
Who would you pick in a fight against those 2 GOATS, under
- boxing rules
- "Triller Triad" rules


It's obvious Nunes would win in MMA, and than Baars would win in Muay Thai, and since both of them have cleaned up their respective sports (I guess JoJo would need to rematch Chris Breuer to take that bullshit split decision loss bacj) if would be fun to watch them bang.

 

[SKITZADACTYL]

 

[Hassan Mouzine]

jorina was a boss for sure

 

[Mammothman]

I don't think this will bring a lot of money or attention, Amanda is not an star and muay thai isn't that popular in the states.

And no, there is nothing Amanda can do to pressure Dana to make this "fight".

 

[Hassan Mouzine]

jorina wold beat nunes in boxing, kickboxing or muay thai. there are levels to this and jorina was an expert in striking.

 

[BFoe]

jorina wold beat nunes in boxing, kickboxing or muay thai. there are levels to this and jorina was an expert in striking.

This. Baars would kill Nunes in any striking contest, but in MMA would probably get taken down immediately.

 

[Richard Fannin]

I don't think this will bring a lot of money or attention, Amanda is not an star and muay thai isn't that popular in the states.

And no, there is nothing Amanda can do to pressure Dana to make this "fight".

It's true that sadly no one cares about Muay Thai in the states... in Europe it's more popular, especially in countries like Holland or France, but there is still not a lot of money in it. You can live from it if you're part of the elite, but you won't make "boxing money"

When it comes to pressuring the UFC, well I had some ideas, like how Bellator allows their fighters to fight both for Bellator MMA and Bellator Kickboxing
(I mean, that' what I've read, but now that I'm looking for a source I can't find any ^^')

If Nunes believes that she has cleaned her sport out, and doesn't want to waste her prime waiting around when she could conquer a new sport, I suppose she could be convinced to leave the UFC for Bellator, where she could potentially be both the wmma champ and the woman kickboxing champ?

I really don't know much about WMMA, so I'm asking you guys who know better than me

jorina wold beat nunes in boxing, kickboxing or muay thai. there are levels to this and jorina was an expert in striking.

Jorina is indeed a great striker, she reminds me of Semmy Schilt... and indeed, she would be a pretty huge favorite againt Nunes in a straight up muay Thai bout, or in kickboxing.

But Nunes might think she has a chance in boxing? I don't know

 

[aerius]

jorina wold beat nunes in boxing, kickboxing or muay thai. there are levels to this and jorina was an expert in striking.

Kickboxing & Muay Thai I'd put my money on Jorina, but not boxing. Jorina doesn't have particularly good hands and depends heavily on her kicks and high knees to keep opponents outside of punching range. When opponents manage to trade hands with her she gets hit a lot and sometimes ends up in bad positions. Boxing against Nunes is not going to go well for her, she doesn't have the power in her hands to keep Amanda off her nor the head movement & defence to avoid the heavy punches coming back her way.

 

[Richard Fannin]

This. Baars would kill Nunes in any striking contest, but in MMA would probably get taken down immediately.

This sucks, we got those 2 women GOATs in fighting sports, but they would both eat the other alive in their respective discipline ^^
I don't know how to bend the rules to make it kinda even...

Cris Cyborg did manage to last to the decision (with some help from the ref who counted knockdowns as slips, but still) against JoJo, and Nunes is a better striker than Cris

Plus, as we saw in Jorina's fight against Christina Breuer, her cardio isn't as good at it used to be.
JoJo won the first 2 rounds, and then lost the 3rd because she was gassed.
Some dumbass ref saw that Breuer finished strong, so she got that awful split decision even if the 3rd round was still closer than both the first 2 rounds were.

The Claire Clements bout a few months ago showed us that Baars sharpened her game, and won the decision against the highly decorated Englishwoman.

After Jorina rematches Brueur and hopefully wins by stoppage, she'll be back to "well, it's lonely at the top"
Same for Nunes...

I know I'm dreaming, but I'd love to watch them bang,bros.

 

[Richard Fannin]

Kickboxing & Muay Thai I'd put my money on Jorina, but not boxing. Jorina doesn't have particularly good hands and depends heavily on her kicks and high knees to keep opponents outside of punching range. When opponents manage to trade hands with her she gets hit a lot and sometimes ends up in bad positions. Boxing against Nunes is not going to go well for her, she doesn't have the power in her hands to keep Amanda off her nor the head movement & defence to avoid the heavy punches coming back her way.

That's pretty much why I wrote that Jorina reminds me of Semmy Schilt.

I do think that Baars must train in pure boxing more than Nunes, which would give her an advantage... but Nunes still has some great hands, she handled Cyborg 90% with punches, though she did use a low kick to start the finishing sequence IIRC

Should Nunes be tempted to fight in one of those millions $ boxing bouts, on the undercard of Jake Paul vs Gordon Ryan, I'd love for Jorina to be her opponent.
Hopefully under Triad rules, with clinch allowed.

And to make it less biased against MMA, maybe add low kicks to the mix?

 

[ninja boot]

this thread to longer to type out than Nunes would need to take her down and GNP her to pulp. thanks but no thanks!

 

[executionermma]

That's pretty much why I wrote that Jorina reminds me of Semmy Schilt.

I do think that Baars must train in pure boxing more than Nunes, which would give her an advantage... but Nunes still has some great hands, she handled Cyborg 90% with punches, though she did use a low kick to start the finishing sequence IIRC

Should Nunes be tempted to fight in one of those millions $ boxing bouts, on the undercard of Jake Paul vs Gordon Ryan, I'd love for Jorina to be her opponent.
Hopefully under Triad rules, with clinch allowed.

And to make it less biased against MMA, maybe add low kicks to the mix?

Semmy would drop people again and again with jabs. He wouldn't even need much space for a straight right reck the shit of the opponent, wouldn't need to fully extent it. Baars has no power in comparison, so i don't think it's that similar.
Semmy had trouble with space, getting hit etc, but to even walk on the range to do so you'd have to go through fire, one jab could fuck you up as it did to people like Hari who is also a long guy. Nunes could get to her with so much ease, in my opinion..

 

[BFoe]

This sucks, we got those 2 women GOATs in fighting sports, but they would both eat the other alive in their respective discipline ^^
I don't know how to bend the rules to make it kinda even...

Cris Cyborg did manage to last to the decision (with some help from the ref who counted knockdowns as slips, but still) against JoJo, and Nunes is a better striker than Cris

Plus, as we saw in Jorina's fight against Christina Breuer, her cardio isn't as good at it used to be.
JoJo won the first 2 rounds, and then lost the 3rd because she was gassed.
Some dumbass ref saw that Breuer finished strong, so she got that awful split decision even if the 3rd round was still closer than both the first 2 rounds were.

The Claire Clements bout a few months ago showed us that Baars sharpened her game, and won the decision against the highly decorated Englishwoman.

After Jorina rematches Brueur and hopefully wins by stoppage, she'll be back to "well, it's lonely at the top"
Same for Nunes...

I know I'm dreaming, but I'd love to watch them bang,bros.

I agree, I’d love to see those 2 fight under any ruleset. Even chess boxing

 

[cade187]

This. Baars would kill Nunes in any striking contest, but in MMA would probably get taken down immediately.

I’d favour Baars for sure, but I think it’s pretty presumptuous to say she would kill Nunes. Nunes KTFO’d Holm in a purely striking contest. Nunes would definitely have a decent chance. I’d call Baars like a -200 favourite at most (actual betting lines would be much closer to even, but that’s mostly due to Amanda being much more well known).

Amanda would be like a -1600 favourite if the fight happened in MMA.

 

[Askafan]

It's just sad that Baars vs De Randamie never happened.

 

[Richard Fannin]

It's just sad that Baars vs De Randamie never happened.

That would have been awesome, but JoJo hadn't quite entered her prime when Germaine (who is a bit older) made her definitive switch from Muay Thai to MMA...
I guess that even with the relatively low pay for female fighters, GDM makes more in Strikeforce/UFC (at a high level, too) than she did as a kickboxer.


It's such a shame that JoJo's MMA venture was such a disaster, afterward she was pretty open about not being a big grappling fan, so I don't see her giving it another try.
I mean, I'm sure Bellator tried to get her to give it another shot at MMA while she was signed by Bellator Kickboxing, that would have been the perfect occasion.

Which was why I was thinking that if I wanted to see Nunes vs Baars, it would probably be at Triller Triad or something ^^
(somehow I don't see those 2 giving everything up to go bang for peanuts at BKFC... but for a huge payday at Triller? That would be fun... or Nunes would have to be the one to give up on MMA to go conquer Muay Thai, and why would she do that when she's a double UFC champ?)

 

[Captain Herb]

jorina wold beat nunes in boxing, kickboxing or muay thai. there are levels to this and jorina was an expert in striking.

Kickboxing/MT, probably but Cyborg had her moments so I don't think that would be a complete waste of time. Boxing would definitely be the most even and Baars couldn't use her push kicks to score or keep the distance.

 

[snugglecakes]

conor floyd happened cause they are both stars... nobody in the usa knows who baars is and amanda isnt really a draw so theres no way they have some kind of striking only match

 

[xhaydenx]

Any sort of striking-only matchup wouldn't be competitive. Baars would beat Nunes easily.

Nunes destroys her in MMA though every time.

 

[BFoe]

I’d favour Baars for sure, but I think it’s pretty presumptuous to say she would kill Nunes. Nunes KTFO’d Holm in a purely striking contest. Nunes would definitely have a decent chance. I’d call Baars like a -200 favourite at most (actual betting lines would be much closer to even, but that’s mostly due to Amanda being much more well known).

Amanda would be like a -1600 favourite if the fight happened in MMA.

The more I think about it, I think you’re right—I am being a bit presumptuous. Baars is getting older, although she still looks to be in good form from what I’ve seen. It’s probably a bit much to say she’d “kill” Amanda, but I think in a kickboxing or Muay Thai fight, Baars should still be -300 or so. In MMA, you’re right, Amanda would be a big favorite.