Amanda Nunes Knew She’d Retire After Signing Contract for UFC 289 Title Defense

Amanda Nunes’ decision to call it a career wasn’t made in the spur of the moment.

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.”