Amanda Nunes rocked the MMA world recently by saying she’s already thinking about retiring. Her mother had asked her to stop fighting and Nunes, 30, admitted she was considering it. Yet it’s evident that the Brazilian bantamweight and featherweight UFC champion still has not decided what to do.
Nunes was on ESPN Brasil on Monday, taping the mixed martial arts show Bola Da Vez. She addressed the talk about retirement, but while acknowledging that she has considered it, she also says she has long-term plans in the UFC, including potentially trying to win a title in a third weight division.
“My mother woke up the other day and said, ‘Come here, can you retire now?’ And I said, ‘Mother, if I want to. I’ve already achieved what I wanted in the sport, I’m already living a quiet life. ‘ And she replied: ‘That’s good then, right? Let’s retire then. ‘
“And that last fight (against Cyborg) for [my mom] was a [struggle to go through],” said Nunes.
At another point, the two-division champion still admitted that a fight against Holly Holm in Curitiba, Brazil — in a bout not yet confirmed, but that could be part of UFC 237 on May 11 — could be a perfect way to hang up the gloves and step away from the octagon.
Nunes also won’t hide her ambition of becoming champion in three different weight classes. For that, she said she would need at least one year (and a contract) to go down in weight class to face Valentina Shevchenko, a rival Nunes has beaten twice already.
“Every time I wake up I see the belts and I think I can get more, collect more. I know I have the capacity, so I have this will,” she said. “It’s possible. But I need some time. I need a year to get ready. I’m not afraid, but I need time. If I go down this path I’ll take that belt, but I have to be ready.”