Amanda Nunes is planning to make her UFC comeback.
The former bantamweight champion, who also held gold at 145 pounds, is widely-considered the greatest female MMA fighter in the history of UFC, defeating — and finishing — the likes of Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate, Holly Holm, and Cris Cyborg, among others.
That’s why “Lioness” is headed to the UFC hall of fame.
Despite her success inside the Octagon, Nunes struggled to achieve the same popularity as her peers, pulling in abysmal pay-per-view (PPV) numbers during her championship reign. So then why are fans “pretending” to care about her inevitable comeback?
That’s one of many questions from fellow UFC hall-of-famer, Chael Sonnen.
“It’s very polite to pretend that you want Amanda Nunes to come back,” Sonnen said on YouTube (transcribed by Kyle Dimond). “It’s very polite but I’m just not really sure why you’re doing it. You didn’t get excited when she was here the first time. You didn’t come out, you didn’t buy a T-shirt, you wouldn’t watch the show because, you wouldn’t buy the pay-per-view … and now you’re pretending that you want her to come back.”
Nunes first retired from competition back in June 2023.
“She’s the greatest of all time,” Sonnen continued. “I’ve also met her and it turns out she’s like a really, really nice human being in addition to that. It’s not a commentary on that. You don’t want to see her fight and you never did, so I struggle with this newfound curiosity of ‘will she come back.’”
Nunes (23-5) will be 37 by the time she makes her way back to the cage, a timeline influenced by the outcome of the UFC 316 co-main event title fight between current bantamweight champion, Julianna Pena, and former PFL titleholder, Kayla Harrison.
If and when “Lioness” does come back … go buy her t-shirt and make Chael happy.
