Amanda Nunes will un-retire to aim to reclaim the belt that was as soon as hers within the UFC.
“The Lioness” is ready to be inducted to the UFC Corridor of Fame in late June, and by then she ought to already know who will likely be standing throughout the octagon for her return combat. Julianna Peña will defend her belt versus Kayla Harrison weeks earlier than, 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 mentioned on the UFC Combat Cross Brazil broadcast she’s “prepared for conflict” and hoping to grow to be “the primary one who’s left and got here again to win the belt once more.”
“It’s totally different for me to see issues from the surface and see my belt there,” mentioned Nunes, referring to Peña’s belt throughout the UFC 316 press convention in Miami. “It’s like that belt was simply fantasy, that the true one is again residence with me. Seeing that solely motivates me. Allow them to combat one another after which I’ll come and take my belt and restore the calm.”
Nunes mentioned this isn’t a one and achieved. In actual fact, she plans on successful and defending the 135-pound championship. The Brazilian first received UFC gold in July 2016, stopping Miesha Tate at UFC 200, and defended it thrice towards Ronda Rousey, Valentina Shevchenko and Raquel Pennington earlier than transferring as much as featherweight for a historic knockout over Cris Cyborg. In complete, Nunes went 11-1 in title bouts in a span of seven years, avenging her sole loss to Peña.
“Kayla or Julianna, I need my belt again, and I’ll combat for it,” Nunes mentioned. “I’m pushed by challenges. I wish to combat for one thing. Kayla is powerful as hell, that’s the one I need. It could possibly be Julianna, cool. I fought her twice, I’ll combat her once more. Kayla is powerful, she’s coming now and is on stage, has good judo and nice grappling, she’s evolving on the toes, and that’s the one I need. This new factor.”
Harrison trains at American Prime Staff in Florida, the gymnasium that turned Nunes into UFC champion, and “The Lioness” has brazenly mentioned that was one of many predominant the explanation why she left the workforce.
“I used to be bothered by the entire scenario, in fact,” Nunes informed MMA Preventing again in 2022. “There have been no ladies once I obtained to American Prime Staff. I used to be the primary girl to convey two belts and put the ladies’s workforce in historical past. When Kayla obtained there after which [Yana Santos], it started making a bizarre scenario for me as a result of that was my territory. After which Kayla began speaking. I used to be sort of, ‘Man, I’m not protected even in my territory.’ I used to be sort of cornered, even as a result of we share the identical coaches. She trains with Mike Brown and I practice with Mike Brown. I used to be already coaching with them when she obtained there.”
Nunes left ATT shortly after dropping to Peña, and dominated her to reclaim the title months later in 2022. On her interview with the UFC Combat Cross workforce Saturday, Nunes mentioned previous coaching classes with Harrison in Florida.
“We didn’t have a partnership within the gymnasium,” Nunes mentioned. “There was no such factor, however we did some coaching right here and there. I used to be off form, I used to be at all times touring, coming again and performing some coaching. It wasn’t like we have been at all times coaching [together] or I used to be in form and coaching with Kayla. By no means like that. It was at all times one thing random, however that’s it. I’m prepared for anybody. I imply it.”
