SUMMARY
- Amanda Cooper Brundage is the wife of UFC middleweight fighter Cody Brundage.
- Amanda met Cody at an MMA gym when she was a pro fighter and Cody was a newbie.
Cody Brundage, an accomplished wrestler, was clueless in an MMA gym a few years ago before a woman named Amanda Cooper helped him figure it all out. In time, Cody and Amanda’s training partnership turned into a life partnership and the couple got married. Amanda Cooper, now also known as Amanda Brundage, had an established MMA career. Let’s find out more about UFC fighter Cody Brundage’s wife Amanda.
Amanda was born on October 22, 1991, in Bath, Michigan, United States. She began her MMA career in February 2014 in the King Of The Cage promotion. She defeated Brittany Dugas via second-round submission to earn a debut win.
Her next fight came over a year later at Invicta FC 14: Evinger vs. Kianzad. She fought Aspen Ladd in September 2015 but faced defeat via submission. She fought again almost a year later at The Ultimate Fighter: Team Joanna vs. Team Cláudia Finale against Tatiana Suarez. Amanda faced another defeat via submission. However, that was enough for her to officially join the UFC.
Amanda Brundage was a UFC fighter for two years
Amanda fought Anna Elmose at UFC Fight Night 99 in November 2016. She earned a successful UFC debut with a unanimous decision win over Elmose. She went on to fight four more times in the UFC but faced three defeats including a submission loss against Mackenzie Dern. UFC decided against renewing Amanda’s contract.
Around the time she had a flourishing career, Amanda met Cody at a Michigan MMA gym. Cody was a college wrestler who was looking to make a name for himself in MMA. He was hitting pads one day and Amanda offered to help him and he accepted her help. “I’m like, ‘Who is this 130-pound girl who is going to hold pads for me?’” Cody said in an interview with MMA Junkie in 2020.
“Long story short, I figured out who she was, and I felt like a huge jack*ss.”
Amanda fought again in 2019 at the Lights Out Championship and earned a win. She amassed a record of 4-5 before taking a hiatus due to pregnancy.
Amanda and Cody Brundage are parents to two daughters
Before Cody and Amanda found out about their pregnancy, Amanda was en route to attempting a comeback in her MMA career. “She was getting some offers to get back in the UFC,” Cody said. “But then we figured out we were pregnant the day we got here so she couldn’t accept (the fight offers).”
Amanda took up the full-time mom role happily. They were blessed with a baby girl in February 2021. They named their daughter Kingsley.
View this post on Instagram
Unfortunately for the family, Kingsley was diagnosed with a disease that affected her development. In an interview with the UFC later in 2021, Cody said, “She had been diagnosed with a super rare gene mutation that affects her development pretty severely.”
Cody explained how Amanda wanted to make a comeback initially but asked Cody to be the fighter and she was ready to be the parent.
Cody said, “My wife, she wanted to come back and fight. She’s a very talented fighter, she fought in the UFC, and she basically told me, ‘…It’s gonna be really hard for us both to do that while we’re dealing with Kingsley, so I’ll take a back step and I’ll take over the parent role a little bit more and you’re gonna take over the fighter role.’”
View this post on Instagram
In June 2023, Amanda gave birth to another daughter, Millie Dawsy Brundage. On the other hand, in a September 2023 Instagram post, Amanda celebrated Kingsley going “1 year without a seizure”. Kingsley was having trouble with frequent seizures but she had shown great signs of progress. On the other hand, Cody continued his fighter role and rose in the ranks at UFC.