Amanda
Nunes’ decision to call it a career wasn’t made in the spur of
the moment.
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After a dominant victory over Irene
Aldana in the UFC 289 headliner, “Lioness” laid her two
championship belts and her gloves in the Octagon, signaling the end
of a decorated career that established her as arguably the greatest
female fighter of all time. It was something she planned prior to
the fight, but she didn’t want it to overshadow the task at
hand.
“[I knew] when I signed the contract for this fight,” Nunes said at
Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “I tried to hide it from
you guys the whole week, but you guys were always on top of it. I
just didn’t want to focus on that, I wanted to focus on my fight
because I didn’t want to talk about the retirement all the time,
and I still talked about it. Imagine if I would’ve said I was going
to retire, it would’ve been all about that. So yeah, I knew the
whole time.”
UFC president Dana White was informed of the decision shortly after
Nunes finished off her latest title defense.
“I’m not shocked that she retired,” White said. “I’ve been saying
for a while, she’s made a lot of money and her life was a lot
different than it was 10 years ago. This must be what Amanda wants,
so I’m definitely happy for her.
“Would I like to see her stick around and do some more? Absolutely.
She’s been incredible to work with. She’s such a good human being
and a great champion. Obviously, she’s the greatest female fighter
of all time. I’d love to keep her around. But if she’s ready to go,
you have to be happy for her.”
Julianna
Pena was in attendance at UFC 289, presumably with designs on
setting up a trilogy bout following a Nunes victory. Now, it’s
unclear who will vie for the vacant bantamweight strap in her
absence. Nunes was adamant that she won’t be tempted to end her
retirement down the road once a new champion emerges.
“I’m gonna have my belt at home with me. That [the new title] is
gonna be the fake one,” Nunes said. “So it’s gonna be fake forever.
Who gets the belt now, is just going to be pretending to have
it.
Yeah, I’m gone,” she added. “I’m good. I did everything and all is
taken care of in my life. Thank you, UFC. They took care of me, and
they’ll always take care of me, so I’m always going to be around.
If I don’t do anything with them, I’ll still go up and down just to
be around because I love this sport so much, and I did everything
to be the best at it. And I proved it tonight. I retired with my
two belts.”
While MMA retirements are quite often short-lived, White believes
Nunes’ sentiment is genuine.
“Oh yeah, she’s definitely [done]” White said. “Listen, everybody
spins every f—ing thing I say, but I kind of felt this. She made a
very good living. She’s made a lot of money. She’s going to be
good.”