There is nothing better than when a plan comes together and for UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes, things are falling into place very nicely as she prepares to make the first defence of her title at UFC 207.

A lot will be made in the lead up to the December 30thpay-per-view of Nunes’ opponent, former champion Ronda Rousey, who will be making her much anticipated return to the Octagon after 13 months on the sidelines.

While the MMA world has waited a year to see the superstar return to the promotion, the champion has been aiming at this bout since 2013 when she made her promotional debut against Sheila Gaff at UFC 163.

“This is the fight that I wanted for a long time, I’ve been training for Ronda Rousey since my first fight in the UFC and now everything is real,” Nunes told TSN.ca.  “I’ve been waiting for this moment my entire career with the UFC.  I waited for the best moment and I’m going to take hold of this fight.”

Taking advantage of her moment is how Nunes got to this spot in the first place.  Her bantamweight title opportunity against then-champion Miesha Tate was supposed to be followed on the UFC 200 card by two more mega fights, Mark Hunt vs. Brock Lesnar and Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier for the light heavyweight title. 

In the final days before the landmark card, Jones was pulled from the title fight and the bout between Nunes and Tate was installed as the main event.

The rest was well taken history.

“It was a dream come true, it was huge for me and I knew I was going to take that belt home and with everything that happened that week it was crazy,” said Nunes. “Our fight was supposed to be third last and then they moved to the main event which was crazy. I knew our fight was going to be huge, but I did not expect it to be the main event.”

While there has been some push back to Rousey jumping right back into the title fight, something both Holly Holm and Tate did not get after dropping the same belt this year, Nunes believes her UFC 207 challenger deserves an immediate shot at the gold.

“I think it’s fair, Ronda Rousey was the most dominant fighter on the planet so why can’t she have a rematch?” said Nunes.  “I think people have to think a little bit before they say things on social media because Rousey was the champion for a long time and dominated this division and she’s only lost one time, I think it’s fair."

In front of the 28-year-old champion is the chance to end both UFC 200 and the final PPV of the year UFC 207 with her arms raised and the bantamweight gold around her waist, a huge opportunity that she is ready to claim.

“It will mean a lot to me because I want to show people that the best fighter in this division is me, I’m a complete fighter I can strike, I can grapple I can Judo throw, I can submit people, I can wrestle,” said Nunes.  “I want to be the best 135 pound champion, Ronda Rousey was the best but now I’m going to be a true champion and this fight is going to show everybody that.”