Amanda Nunes not ruling out a potential return following UFC 297: “I still feel like a champion”

By Harry Kettle - January 22, 2024

Former two-weight UFC champion Amanda Nunes has admitted she could be interested in a return to the Octagon.

Amanda Nunes' comeback

Last Saturday, Raquel Pennington defeated Mayra Bueno Silva to become the new UFC women’s bantamweight champion. The former queen of the castle, Amanda Nunes, was in attendance to watch the momentous crowning of the new champ. It came seven months after the Brazilian opted to retire from mixed martial arts, vacating her bantamweight and featherweight titles in the process.

RELATED: Amanda Nunes reveals nerve damage led to her retirement at UFC 289: “Things are starting to get harder for me”

Now, however, as per the 35-year-old herself, she’s considering a return to the cage.

Nunes teases potential comeback

“I was nervous [watching the title fight],” Nunes said on the UFC 297 post-fight show. “I don’t know why, but I was very nervous. It was mixed feelings. I was happy and sad. When I saw ‘Rocky’ with the belt, I was OK. I wasn’t upset or anything like that.

“I think I did the right decision retiring, resting a little bit. Taking care of the babies. Can’t leave Nina [Nunes] with two babies by herself. So I’ve been enjoying it, too. My whole life was fighting related, so I was not really able to enjoy my 20s. My 20s passed like that. I’m 35 now, and now I’m able to go back to Brazil, stay a little bit with my friends and family, and enjoy and see what happens.”

“I’m still young, fresh,” Nunes said. “We never know [what might happen]. We have a lot of things to do. I’ve got to figure out a bunch of things at home still, what I’m going to do and see what happens.”

“I don’t know — we never know,” Nunes said. “I’m a fighter and this is my job. I love this so much, and I don’t know. I enjoy as well not being in the gym everyday and having a normal life, stay home a little bit and be lazy. I [can’t be] lazy as a fighter, it’s very hard.

“But I’m still healthy and powerful, smart, think like a champion. I still feel like a champion, so we’ll see.”

Quotes via MMA Fighting

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