The most dominant female in the history of mixed martial arts had the cut man cut the tape off her gloves, so she could lay them between her UFC bantamweight and featherweight championship belts, after another dominant performance.
Nunes had just finished Irene Aldana, who came in winning four of her last five fights. Nunes won the fight 50-44, 50-44 and 50-43 on the scorecards, in a fight that Aldana should never have been put in.
The fight was originally scheduled to be against Juliana Pena, to complete the trilogy for the bantamweight championship. It was Pena who handed Nunes her first loss in over seven years with the upset at UFC 269 in December 2021. Pena broke her ribs while training.
Aldana was originally scheduled to face Raquel Pennington, but that fight was canceled after Pena’s injury.
The irony here is that it usually was Nunes having a fight postponed due to something in her camp. Her UFC 213 fight against Valentina Shevchenko was postponed after Nunes was admitted with a sinus infection the morning of the event. In May of 2020, Nunes suffered an unspecified injury that postponed her fight against Megan Anderson at UFC 250. Nunes also tested positive for Covid in the leadup to her first fight against Pena, which was originally set for UFC 265.
Amanda Nunes, 35, leaves the UFC behind with the most wins for a woman in promotion history (16), most finishes in history (10), and headlined seven UFC pay-per-view cards. She is the first openly lesbian champion in company history, and retires with an overall MMA record of 23-5-0.
Two of those wins were against Shevchenko, who now is likely considered the best pound-for-pound female fighter in the world, but one is severely disputed to this day.
Four of Nunes’ final six fights went the distance, with Nunes winning via unanimous decision each time. The eventual rescheduling against Anderson lasted 2:03 into the first round, before Anderson tapped to a reverse triangle armbar.
Nunes and her wife Nina Nunes (nee Ansaroff) welcomed their first child in September 2020, when the latter gave birth. With their daughter now three, this was the right time for Nunes to step away. There was no major challenge left, as she dispatched Holly Holm, Ronda Rousey, Cris “Cyborg” Santos and Shevchenko since the end of 2016.
Amanda Nunes was more dominant than Ronda Rousey during “Rowdy’s” run at the top, and faced better competition than “Cyborg” could do with all the fantasy booking in the world.
The bantamweight championship will now likely be settled between Pennington (#1-ranked, 15-8) and Pena (#2, 11-5), but Ketlen Vieira (#3, 13-3) may be substituted if the UFC wanted to establish a new champion right away. Pennington’s last fight was in January, which was a split decision win over Vieira. Many wanted the two to “run it back” right away.
When she annihilated Santos at UFC 232, Nunes effectively killed the women’s featherweight division. The championship was created to placate Santos, and Nunes became more of a placeholder, as top contenders Felicia Spencer and Anderson both retired shortly after their losses.
You likely have to believe the fight changing to Aldana on shorter notice was done so that Nunes could go out on top. Six weeks is not a lot of time in the MMA world to shift a game plan. Aldana had been preparing for Pennington, then finds out she’s being fed to the lion, pun intended.
It was more than likely that Nunes downed a few Modelo beers while holding her daughter as the festivities wound down after the fight. She might as well soak up one more endorsement check, now that she’s retiring to private life.
-JC24