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 can be standing throughout the octagon for her return struggle. 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 stated on the UFC Struggle Go Brazil broadcast she’s “prepared for conflict” and hoping to turn out to be “the primary one that’s left and got here again to win the belt once more.”
“It’s completely different for me to see issues from the surface and see my belt there,” stated 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 house with me. Seeing that solely motivates me. Allow them to struggle one another after which I’ll come and take my belt and restore the calm.”
Nunes stated this isn’t a one and executed. Actually, she plans on profitable 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 in opposition to Ronda Rousey, Valentina Shevchenko and Raquel Pennington earlier than transferring as much as featherweight for a historic knockout over Cris Cyborg. In whole, Nunes went 11-1 in title bouts in a span of seven years, avenging her sole loss to Peña.
“Kayla or Julianna, I would like my belt again, and I’ll struggle for it,” Nunes stated. “I’m pushed by challenges. I wish to struggle for one thing. Kayla is robust as hell, that’s the one I would like. It might be Julianna, cool. I fought her twice, I’ll struggle her once more. Kayla is robust, she’s coming now and is on an excellent stage, has good judo and nice grappling, she’s evolving on the ft, and that’s the one I would like. This new factor.”
Harrison trains at American Prime Group in Florida, the gymnasium that turned Nunes into UFC champion, and “The Lioness” has overtly stated that was one of many fundamental the reason why she left the workforce.
“I used to be bothered by the entire state of affairs, after all,” Nunes advised MMA Combating again in 2022. “There have been no ladies once I received to American Prime Group. I used to be the primary girl to deliver two belts and put the ladies’s workforce in historical past. When Kayla received there after which [Yana Santos], it started making a bizarre state of affairs for me as a result of that was my territory. After which Kayla began speaking. I used to be type of, ‘Man, I’m not secure even in my territory.’ I used to be type of cornered, even as a result of we share the identical coaches. She trains with Mike Brown and I prepare with Mike Brown. I used to be already coaching with them when she received there.”
Nunes left ATT shortly after shedding to Peña, and dominated her to reclaim the title months later in 2022. On her interview with the UFC Struggle Go workforce Saturday, Nunes mentioned previous coaching classes with Harrison in Florida.
“We didn’t have a partnership within the gymnasium,” Nunes stated. “There was no such factor, however we did some coaching right here and there. I used to be out of practice, I used to be at all times touring, coming again and performing some coaching. It wasn’t like we had 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.”
