Amanda Nunes retired back in 2023 to focus on her family, but it didn’t take long for arguably the greatest women’s fighter in history to get that itch to fight again.
As she prepares to face Kayla Harrison
in the UFC 324 co-main event, the former featherweight and bantamweight champion admits that a year away from the sport already had her contemplating a comeback. When she decided to walk away from the sport, Nunes had already conquered every possible obstacle for a fighter but that didn’t eliminate her desire to keep going.
Then Kayla Harrison arrived in the UFC and Nunes knew for certain her retirement was coming to an end.
“One year passed by and I was kind of looking at Nina around the house like ‘Nina, I cannot stay away,’” Nunes told Paramount prior to UFC 324. “I can’t. I tried so hard for one year.
“The thoughts started [being stronger] and Kayla signed with the UFC. This is just meant to be. So everything’s coming together.”
Of course, Nunes once called Harrison her training partner and teammate when both were working out of American Top Team in Florida. At the time, Harrison was competing at lightweight — a division that doesn’t exist in the UFC — and she was staying busy in the PFL.
That meant there was no potential conflict but as Harrison continued tearing through her opponents, she started seeking out bigger and better opposition. Before long, Harrison was eyeing fights against names like Nunes and Cris Cyborg because those were the kinds of names that would allow her to eventually ascend to all-time great status.
Nunes understood that kind of desire, but she also knew that Harrison gunning for her was going to eventually cause a divide in the gym.
“That’s the thing, when she got there, every time I went to the gym training if she was there or I was there, we partnered up but it was never a thing — being together at the time in training,” Nunes explained. “Honestly, I feel like when she started really talking about me, calling me out and at the same time being at the gym, trying to be my training partner, it started getting a little bit more of a following for her. This is the challenge that I like but you’re here next to me. That’s not how I like to do things.
“If you’re calling me out, if you want to fight me, you’re not supposed to be here training with my coaches in the same mat, in the same gym. If I’m going to face you, you’re going to be out of here. At that time, she wasn’t even in the UFC yet, but I knew it’s possible. I knew right away when she started calling me out and talking about [fighting me], I knew there’s not a lot of people [for her to fight]. She’s an athlete, she’s a good fighter and there’s not a lot of people that can keep up with her, I knew she would make her way to the UFC. I was ready for it. But everything was so crazy. I retired. I had the second baby, all those things. I had so much going on and then I decided to retire and she wasn’t even in the UFC yet.”
When Harrison finally got to the UFC, she made quick work of former champion Holly Holm and then dispatched Ketlen Vieira to earn her title shot against then champion Julianna Pena. Harrison demolished Pena inside two rounds to win the UFC women’s bantamweight title — the same belt Nunes left behind when she retired.
As much as she knew she wanted to fight again, Nunes seeing Harrison with that championship belt around her waist was the final catalyst she needed to decided to return and fight again.
“Nobody’s going to do anything with my division. So I’ve got to go in there and make this great again,” Nunes said. “Every fight makes sense. [I told Nina], I think I’m going to go back. Then Kayla signed — even better. Made everything perfect.
“That attachment that I used to have with the gym, with the coaches, people that were always around me, [we don’t have that anymore]. They are all against me. So I look at them as my opponents, too. I like the challenge this brings to me.”
