With Amanda
Nunes’ comeback all but official, the former two-division
champion will likely be the most interested of all observers when
the women’s bantamweight title is up for grabs in June.
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Nunes was in attendance at UFC
314 in Miami, where it was announced that “Lioness” would be
enshrined in the promotion’s Hall of Fame this summer. Nunes gave
multiple interviews during the weekend, and she often indicated
that her UFC return was imminent.
If all goes as planned, Nunes will face the winner of the Julianna
Pena–Kayla
Harrison championship clash slated for UFC 316
on June 7 in Newark, New Jersey. Nunes already has history with
Pena, but a fight with Harrison might be even more intriguing for
the Brazilian.
“Kayla or Julianna, I want my belt back, and I’ll fight for it,”
Nunes said on UFC Fight Pass Brasil (translation via MMAFighting.com). “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.”
Pena scored one of the biggest upsets in the sport’s history when
she defeated Nunes via second-round submission at UFC 269. Nunes
got her revenge with a dominant five-round verdict in their rematch
at UFC 277. They were supposed to have their trilogy at UFC 289,
but Pena withdrew from the bout. Instead, Nunes defended her belt
against Irene
Aldana and then announced her retirement.
Having Harrison, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and former
Professional Fighters League champion, in the UFC is a new
challenge for Nunes. The two were also both briefly at
American Top Team, but Harrison’s arrival ultimately led to
Nunes’ departure.
Nunes said that she never spent significant time working when
Harrison when they were both at ATT.
“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.”