20 animal-human matchups we’d like to see besides Michael Phelps vs. a shark

LAS VEGAS, NV – DECEMBER 29: UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes of Brazil poses on the scale during the UFC 207 weigh-in at T-Mobile Arena on December 29, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

7. Amanda Nunes vs. a lion

Amanda Nunes, the UFC women’s bantamweight champion, fights with the nickname “The Lioness” when she’s in the Octagon, and she’s taken down some of the biggest names in the sport on her rise to fame. She’s defeated Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate, and Valentina Shevchenko, and now it’s time to up the ante a little bit.

Nunes has notoriously rocked a lion’s mask in her weigh-ins before, most notably on a big fight stage against Rousey, but now it’s time to make her earn it. Her origin story for the nickname is pretty solid already: her gym back in Brazil having two lions as a logo, and her being the lone female fighter in the gym, hence becoming the lioness. However, how much better does actually beating a lion to get that nickname sound?

Obviously it wouldn’t be smart to just have her fight a lion in the middle of the Octagon, and I’m unsure how to make it work out otherwise. One thing I do suggest to fix the whole issue of one of the two potentially dying is to just have them in a staredown or a no-blinking contest. Give Nunes her lion mask, put the two in a safe environment, and whoever turns away first loses.

Who knows how this could actually happen outside of that random solution, but all I know is it needs to happen. After all, once you beat Rousey as dominantly as Nunes did, anything else in life should be easy, even if it does involve lions getting in your face.