Amanda Nunes has finally explained why she walked away. In an interview with UFC.com ahead of her UFC 334 return against Kayla Harrison, the Brazilian said years of nonstop title fights left her burned out, and that she needed time away to recover mentally and physically before she could even think about competing again.
“When I stepped out, I needed the rest because I was literally on a roll, fighting for so long,” Nunes said. She added that she had “defended the belt in two divisions, and I never stopped. I was burned out.”
Her biggest fear, she explained, was staying in the cage while running on empty and dropping fights because the joy had drained out of it. “I didn’t want to keep pushing through back then and have the risk to lose because I wasn’t happy doing the thing that I love to do,” Nunes said. “So, when I retired, I needed the break. I needed to reset and needed a clear mind. I needed a break for my body to lose weight, too.”
That break eventually got old. Nunes said she got bored at home, and so did her family. “My daughter got bored, and my little one didn’t get the opportunity to see everything,” she said. That daughter is apparently fully invested now. In a recent UFC Embedded episode, she was caught giving her mom tips on how to beat Harrison.
The road back to Harrison
The last time anyone saw Nunes compete was UFC 289 in June 2023, when she beat Irene Aldana, dropped to her knees, and laid both her 135-pound and 145-pound belts in the center of the Octagon before announcing her retirement. She left as a reigning two-division champion, with 14 wins in her final 15 fights. The lone loss in that stretch came against Julianna Pena, and Nunes evened that score in their rematch at UFC 277.
The rest of the résumé is ridiculous. Wins over Miesha Tate and Ronda Rousey. A first-round knockout of Cris Cyborg at UFC 232 that still looks unreal on replay. She’s in the conversation for greatest female fighter ever, and plenty of people would end that conversation with her name.
Nunes and Harrison were first booked for UFC 324, nearly 11 months ago, before the fight fell apart. Now it’s on for Saturday, with Nunes trying to reclaim bantamweight gold. Yahoo Sports noted the bout could also be the final appearance for both women, a possibility that raises the stakes for each of them.
Quick take
I’ll take an honest “I was burned out” over a vague retirement speech every single time, and Nunes giving the real reason now, days out from the biggest fight left on the women’s side, tells me she isn’t hiding anything heading in. More than three years is a long time between fights, and nobody should pretend ring rust is fake. But the version of Nunes who quit in 2023 was a champion who didn’t want to be there anymore. The version walking out Saturday at UFC 334 says she missed “everything about MMA,” and a happy Lioness with a rested body is a scary thing to stand across from, Harrison or anyone else.
