ONE’s Johnny Nunez Focused Even More Thanks To Growing Family

Johnny Nunez has not found it difficult in the least bit to balance being a mixed martial artist and father.

Nunez and former UFC champion Miesha Tate welcomed a baby girl, Amaia, into this world recently. That, along with both Nunez and Tate now being part of ONE Championship, has brought the three of them halfway around the world to Singapore.

Earlier this year, the family moved to Singapore so Nunez could join the Evolve MMA fight team. He will make his ONE Championship debut at ONE: Dawn of Valor this weekend against Kazuki Tokudome.

Former TUF Competitor Johnny Nunez Ready For ONE Debut

“Oh man, being a father and now training camps are so much easier on me,” Nunez said. “More from my mental aspect. I do not take things so seriously and I am more relaxed, especially when I get to come home and see baby Amaia. It does not matter how hard of practice or if I have a nagging injury, the smile I get to see when I come home in between training is simply priceless and I would not change that for anything in this world.”

Nunez, a former Las Vegas resident like Tate, is 7-1 overall and on a two-fight win streak. He earned a decision over Josh Wick last year at Bellator 205 and also spent time on The Ultimate Fighter.

The 34-year-old began his career in 2012 and also holds wins over Ozzy Dugulubgov, Joel Lam and David Jordan.

Nunez has embraced the move to Singapore and his decision to sign with ONE. Tate is currently an executive with the MMA promotion and also handles interviewing duties for events.

“I have been excited for my ONE debut since I moved to Singapore in April,” Nunez said. “It was kind of hard leaving all my family, friends and training partners to come out to Singapore with my daughter and her momma, but I feel like we have adapted fairly quicker than I anticipated. I would say that I simplified my life a bit and now I can totally dedicate myself to being ONE World Champion.”

Miesha Tate Helped Lead Nunez To ONE

It was actually Tate who led Nunez to ONE, but not because of her position with the promotion. She saw a post on Facebook about Evolve MMA holding tryouts.

One thing led to another, and Nunez decided it was the right move to make.

“She messaged me it and asked what I thought about moving to Singapore to train and maybe fight for ONE championship?” Nunez said. “I said, ‘yes, why not,’ since we had already been there a few times and had a relationship with Chatri Sityodtong. Miesha reached about to him about me coming out for tryout and then one thing led to another and now here we are. The adjustment was a bit hard at first but we have settled in and really enjoying the Singapore life.

“Training in Singapore is great as far as the warm weather is concerned,” he said. “It does not take much of a warmup to get the blood pumping and getting that hard sweat going. I am getting elite Muay Thai training over at Evolve; we have some of the top Thai trainers in the world and they sure do push you.”

ONE: Dawn of Valor features a welterweight title fight between champion Zebaztian Kadestam and Kiamrian Abbasov. Also, kickboxing lightweight champion Regian Eersel defends his title against Nieky Holzken in a rematch from earlier this year.