Amanda Nunes won’t retire again if she beats Kayla Harrison
“You gotta defend the belt,” said the Brazilian, who faces Kayla Harrison for the bantamweight title on November 14 in New York.
Amanda Nunes says she will not retire again if she beats Kayla Harrison at UFC 334 on November 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The Brazilian challenges Harrison for the bantamweight title in the co-main event. She made the comments on the UFC’s Deep Waters podcast, and they were picked up by MMA outlets on Monday and Tuesday.
What Nunes said about retiring
Asked whether she would walk away again if she won the belt back, “The Lioness” didn’t hesitate. “You gotta defend the belt, for sure,” she said. “Then we’re gonna see.”
On the same show, with Chris Weidman, Dustin Poirier, Jorge Masvidal and Din Thomas on the panel, she pushed back on the idea that Harrison alone brought her back. “I don’t think so,” Nunes said. “I would have come back anyways. I had a hard time being away.”
She also explained why she stepped away in 2023. “I think I did the break at the right time,” she said. “I was like so burned out and I kinda needed the break.”
A comeback that was already delayed once
Nunes has not fought since June 10, 2023, when she beat Irene Aldana by unanimous decision at UFC 289 in Vancouver, Canada. She left her bantamweight and featherweight belts in the Octagon and announced her retirement. Both titles were vacated days later.
In June 2025, she said she would come out of retirement to face the winner of Kayla Harrison vs. Julianna Peña. Harrison won, and the two were booked for UFC 324 on January 24 of this year. The fight fell through when Harrison needed neck surgery.
In September, the UFC rebooked the fight for New York, right under the heavyweight title main event between Ciryl Gane and Josh Hokit. Before that, the promotion has two title fights this Saturday in Abu Dhabi, including the bantamweight trilogy between Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 333.
Jiu-jitsu black belt vs. two-time Olympic judo champion
The matchup puts two grappling backgrounds against each other. Nunes is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, while Harrison won Olympic judo gold at London 2012 and Rio 2016 in the 78 kg division.
In the UFC, Harrison is 3-0, with two wins by submission. She submitted Holly Holm in her debut at UFC 300 and took the belt from Peña with a kimura in the second round at UFC 316 in June 2025.
Nunes, for her part, holds a 23-5 MMA record and was a two-division champion at the same time. The two are former training partners at American Top Team, which adds another layer to the fight.
Whoever leaves New York with the belt will face a division with rising Brazilian talent, such as Alice Pereira, who beat a ranked opponent earlier this month.
What do you think: can Amanda Nunes win the title back after more than three years away, or will Kayla Harrison’s judo be the difference? Tell us in the comments.
Read more:
- Alice Pereira beats ranked opponent at UFC and fires back: “My division is more alive than ever”
- Merab Dvalishvili jokes he’s a decision machine before Yan 3
- Volkanovski vows to finish unbeaten Evloev at UFC 333
