Amanda Nunes hasn’t set foot inside the fabled UFC Octagon in almost 26 months time. On June 10, 2023, she made what was, at the time, her retirement appearance in the cage against Irene Aldana (15-8 MMA, 8-6 UFC).
That night proved to be a fruitful one, with “The Lioness” scoring a unanimous decision victory on the scorecards (50-44, 50-44, 50-45) after 25 minutes of action. After the fight ended that night, Nunes retired from active competition, having attained championships in both the bantamweight and featherweight divisions.
At the time of her retirement from fighting, Nunes sported a record of 23-5 across all competitions, with a 16-2 mark under the UFC promotional banner. During the post-fight press conference, UFC CEO Dana White offered his thoughts on Amanda Nunes retiring from the sport of MMA.
Dana White on Amanda Nunes’ 2023 Retirement from MMA
“This must be what Amanda wants,” the CEO mentioned to the assembled media. “I’m definitely happy for her. Would I like to see her stick around and do some more? Absolutely. I love the kid. She’s been incredible to work with.”
At the time that Amanda Nunes ended her career as a fighter two years ago, she was the winningest competitor in UFC women’s history with 16 victories. Dana White said that he’d want to see Nunes put on the gloves again.
After the June 7 UFC 316 main card in Newark, NJ from Prudential Center, he’ll get his wish, and for that matter, Amanda Nunes will get a chance to secure her 17th win as a member of the UFC’s roster. Upon Kayla Harrison (19-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) locking in a second-round submission with a kimura to defeat Juliana Pena for the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship, Nunes and Harrison stared each other down inside the Octagon.
Amanda Nunes Fulfilling Promise Made Ahead of UFC 316 with Kayla Harrison Fight
In the run-up to UFC 316 in New Jersey, Amanda Nunes, who announced that she would be suspending her retirement to fight the survivor of the Julianna Pena vs. Kayla Harrison fight at UFC 316 for the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship, confirmed to Joe Rogan on the telecast that she’ll be returning to competition to fight Harrison at a later date.
Nunes has had a month to take stock of what happened in Newark that evening. Recently, she was a guest of The Schmo, during which time the topic of returning to the cage was discussed,
“I just want to fight again,” Amanda Nunes mentioned. “I decided to come back for something that I really enjoy to be in. Honestly, that’s why I left for two years, because I don’t want to be [burnt] out.”
Amanda Nunes on Fighting Kayla Harrison
While no concrete date for the contest pitting Amanda Nunes against Kayla Harrison for the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship has been set as of this writing, Nunes took time out during her interview with The Schmo to fire a salvo in what’s sure to be an escalating war of words between the two women.
“I’m not impressed,” Nunes said of Kayla Harrison’s victory on June 7 in New Jersey. “I think [that] she did what she’s supposed to do. She saw that she could beat Julianna [Pena] and she saw the arm, and she got the arm, and she beat Julianna, so I’m happy for her.”
Thoughts on Amanda Nunes vs. Kayla Harrison
Before the fight between Amanda Nunes and Kayla Harrison can be agreed upon, the former will have to return to the UFC’s drug-testing pool. At the very earliest, this contest will not take place until late in 2025, if not the outset of 2026.
This contest, when it occurs, will be one amazing fight with fireworks rivaling those that were set off across various United States communities this past weekend for the Fourth of July holiday. Between the two of them, Kayla Harrison and Amanda Nunes have a 42-6 record across all competitions in MMA.
Harrison and Nunes have decorated resumes throughout respective careers, with the former winning two consecutive PFL Women’s Lightweight Championships between 2019 and 2021. The 2020 PFL season was canceled as a result of COVID-19 making it impractical for the promotion to hold cards as scheduled in the league’s then-current format.
Thus, there’s really only one question left for us to ask as we close it out today: Will you watch this fight when it happens?
