Amanda Nunes will un-retire to attempt to reclaim the belt that was once hers in the UFC.
“The Lioness” is set to be inducted to the UFC Hall of Fame in late June, and by then she should already know who will be standing across the octagon for her return fight. Julianna Peña will defend her belt versus Kayla Harrison weeks before, when UFC 316 lands in Newark on June 8.
A former two-division UFC champion, Nunes retired after dominating Irene Aldana in June 2023. She attended UFC 314 in Miami and said on the UFC Fight Pass Brazil broadcast she’s “ready for war” and hoping to become “the first person who’s left and came back to win the belt again.”
“It’s different for me to see things from the outside and see my belt there,” said Nunes, referring to Peña’s belt during the UFC 316 press conference in Miami. “It’s like that belt was just fantasy, that the real one is back home with me. Seeing that only motivates me. Let them fight each other and then I’ll come and take my belt and restore the calm.”
Nunes said this is not a one and done. In fact, she plans on winning and defending the 135-pound championship. The Brazilian first won UFC gold in July 2016, stopping Miesha Tate at UFC 200, and defended it three times against Ronda Rousey, Valentina Shevchenko and Raquel Pennington before moving up to featherweight for a historic knockout over Cris Cyborg. In total, Nunes went 11-1 in title bouts in a span of seven years, avenging her sole loss to Peña.
“Kayla or Julianna, I want my belt back, and I’ll fight for it,” Nunes said. “I’m driven by challenges. I like to fight for something. Kayla is strong as hell, that’s the one I want. It could be Julianna, cool. I fought her twice, I’ll fight her again. Kayla is strong, she’s coming now and is on a good level, has good judo and great grappling, she’s evolving on the feet, and that’s the one I want. This new thing.”
Harrison trains at American Top Team in Florida, the gym that turned Nunes into UFC champion, and “The Lioness” has openly said that was one of the main reasons why she left the team.
“I was bothered by the whole situation, of course,” Nunes told MMA Fighting back in 2022. “There were no girls when I got to American Top Team. I was the first woman to bring two belts and put the women’s team in history. When Kayla got there and then [Yana Santos], it began creating a weird situation for me because that was my territory. And then Kayla started talking. I was kind of, ‘Man, I’m not safe even in my territory.’ I was kind of cornered, even because we share the same coaches. She trains with Mike Brown and I train with Mike Brown. I was already training with them when she got there.”
Nunes left ATT shortly after losing to Peña, and dominated her to reclaim the title months later in 2022. On her interview with the UFC Fight Pass team Saturday, Nunes discussed past training sessions with Harrison in Florida.
“We didn’t have a partnership in the gym,” Nunes said. “There was no such thing, but we did some training here and there. I was out of shape, I was always traveling, coming back and doing some training. It wasn’t like we were always training [together] or I was in shape and training with Kayla. Never like that. It was always something random, but that’s it. I’m ready for anyone. I mean it.”