Amanda Nunes shares life in UFC with girlfriend

LOS ANGELES — The peculiarities of a mixed martial arts fighter’s life are complicated and multi-faceted. The stresses of weight cuts and the grueling, nervous months of preparation for a bout can be difficult for even the most loyal significant other to understand.

Yet job-related miscommunication in her relationship is not something Amanda Nunes has to worry about as she prepares to face Ronda Rousey at UFC 207 on Friday. Nunes’ girlfriend, Nina Ansaroff, is going through the exact same thing.

Ansaroff is also a fighter within the Ultimate Fighting Championship stable, a strawweight with a 6-5 record who will take to the octagon at a UFC show in Phoenix just over two weeks after Nunes defends her bantamweight title against Rousey.

“It helps me to be calm because I know Nina understands,” Nunes told USA TODAY Sports. “She knows everything that goes into being a fighter so I don’t have to explain why I am doing this or that. Sometimes getting ready to fight is a difficult time, but she makes it easy for me and I try to do the same for her.”

After Nunes submitted Miesha Tate in the first round of their title bout at UFC 200 in the summer, she wheeled away in delight, leaped to the top of the octagon fence, and kissed Ansaroff delightedly.

Her dominating performance against Tate made her the first openly gay champion in UFC history, a significant step for an organization where fighter trash talk has too often included reference to homophobic slurs.

Nunes and Ansaroff have been together four years and though they have never hidden their relationship, neither did they feel the need to announce publicly that they were gay.

The drama of UFC 200 and Nunes’ new position as champion of one of UFC’s highest-profile divisions altered things slightly, but in a positive way.

“It actually taught us something as well,” Ansaroff said. “We never thought it was something that needed to be recognized. When we started getting emails from people who were having difficulties and struggling with their sexuality, it made us realize that maybe we should be a little bit stronger about this, to help these people.”

The pair live in Coconut Creek, Fla., and with a healthy payday coming thanks to a share of Friday’s pay-per-view revenues, have been through a lot together. When they met Nunes lived in her local gym and used a bicycle for transport, while Ansaroff was trying to work up through the MMA minor leagues.

They met at training and quickly moved in together, communicating through Google Translate in the early part of their relationship before Brazilian Nunes’ English improved. Marriage and children – they plan to adopt and Ansaroff also wishes to carry a baby – appear to be in their future.

“For sure, being in a relationship with someone who understands what is going on helps my fighting,” Nunes said. “But on the other side because we are fighters helps to make the relationship stronger. We understand the work that we put in and we respect each other. We met through fighting and it brings us closer. If I am cutting weight she helps. This has helped make me champion.”

With so much focus on Rousey and her return for the first time since being knocked out by Holly Holm last November, Nunes’ impressive rise and superb form over the past two years has occasionally been discounted.

The couple has been amused by how the UFC hype machine has so intensely focused on Rousey at the expense of all else, but it suits their low-key lifestyle just fine.

“Amanda doesn’t need that stuff,” Ansaroff said. “She has this drive and confidence that nothing is going to stand in her way. She doesn’t need anyone telling her how good she is. I have seen it grow over time and she knows she is where she belongs, right at the top of women’s MMA. It is going to take a heck of a lot to take that away from her, whoever you are.”