Amanda Nunes intends to walk away from mixed martial arts after she fights Kayla Harrison at UFC 334, and it’s the second time she has reached that decision. The Sun reported the news on Tuesday, Nov. 10, describing it as Nunes’ second retirement call and noting it arrives just days before she steps in with Harrison.
That is the full extent of what’s confirmed right now. The Sun’s report reached us as a headline only, so the finer points are still unconfirmed in anything we’ve seen. We don’t know whether Nunes gave a reason, whether she announced it herself or through her camp, or whether she left any room to reconsider. We’ll add her own words when they surface. Until then, this piece won’t fill those gaps with guesses.
The word “second” in that report is the part that sticks with me. A first retirement is usually a feeling a fighter has after a long camp or a hard night. A second one is a different thing, because by definition it comes from someone who already stepped away once and then decided to come back. Whatever pulled Nunes back toward the cage, she has now chosen to put a fixed end on it, and she has put Harrison’s name at the bottom of the page.
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It has been a strange week around both women for reasons that have nothing to do with fighting. On Saturday, Nov. 7, President Trump posted that he had offered Dana White the job of White House press secretary. He said he wanted White to bring along a group of assistants, and his list included Islam Makhachev, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Justin Gaethje, Daniel Cormier, Nunes and Harrison, whose surname he spelled as Harris. Explaining the picks, Trump wrote, “We need these people to defend us against the Lunatic Left.” Aaron Rupar and Collin Rugg were among those who posted the full statement on X, and it spread quickly from there. Two fighters booked to hurt each other at UFC 334 ended up named side by side in a presidential post, days before they share a cage. Nothing in the sources suggests either of them responded.
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What comes next is simple on paper. Nunes has Harrison at UFC 334, and by her own reported plan, nothing after that.
My take is that I’ve never loved fight-week retirement news. It hands the opponent an extra storyline and gives the crowd a farewell to cry about before the first punch lands. Still, there’s something I respect in a fighter who picks her own exit instead of letting matchmakers or a bad night pick it for her. Nunes has decided which fight goes on the last line of her record. The final say on how that line reads belongs to Harrison, standing across from her at UFC 334.
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