MIAMI – Former two-division UFC women’s champion Amanda Nunes on Friday, in the form of an assertive and repeated head nod, said she’s planning a return from retirement.
Nunes was in a VIP seat at Kaseya Center for the UFC 314 ceremonial weigh-ins ahead of Saturday’s card in Miami. Conveniently for the South Florida resident and ex-champ, the prelude to the weigh-ins was a ticket on-sale news conference for UFC 316 later this year in New Jersey.
At that event, women’s bantamweight champion Julianna Pena (13-5 MMA, 8-3 UFC) will take on challenger Kayla Harrison (18-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC), a two-time Olympic gold medalist in judo and a two-time PFL $1 million season winner. Harris is nearly a 6-1 betting favorite in the fight, nearly unheard of for a challenger. It will be just her third fight in the UFC.
Peña beat Nunes to become champion in an upset in December 2021. She lost it in a rematch the next year. Then, after more than two years on the sidelines, and after Nunes retired in 2023, Nunes returned and beat Raquel Pennington to win the title back. That fight was a split decision that 96 percent of media members tracked by MMA Decisions scored for Pennington.
She has asked for a trilogy fight with Nunes – and Friday said Nunes’ return hinges on who wins between her and Harrison on Saturday.
After a heated #UFC316 press conference, Julianna Peña and Kayla Harrison have their first title fight faceoff. pic.twitter.com/GF4jl9J0gJ
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) April 11, 2025
But when UFC CEO Dana White was asked if he would be open to Nunes coming out of retirement later this year to fight the winner, he didn’t need to answer. Nunes was shown on camera quickly nodding her head that she would unretire to fight again.
White recently said he thinks Nunes retired too early.
Peña and Harrison fight June 7 in the UFC 316 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) co-main event at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
Nunes retired in mid-2023 not long after she beat Irene Aldana in a bantamweight title fight. The 135-pound belt was filled, but her featherweight title remains in limbo. The UFC has held very few women’s fights at 145 pounds, and no plans for a new champion ever have been made.
Harrison fought at featherweight in the PFL and only first made the cut to bantamweight when she came to the UFC. If she beats Peña to win the title and Nunes comes out of retirement, she technically still would be featherweight champ – meaning a meeting between the two could kick off a lengthy two-division rivalry and reignite things at women’s featherweight for the UFC.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 316.
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