Could Amanda Nunes come back to reclaim her belt?
On Saturday, Raquel Pennington defeated Mayra Bueno Silva to win the UFC women’s bantamweight championship vacated by Nunes when she retired last year.
After the fight, Nunes spoke with ESPN and had mixed emotions about seeing Pennington win. The former UFC women’s champ didn’t rule out returning to fight for the title.
“I don’t know why but I was very nervous,” Nunes said. “It was mixed feelings. I was happy and sad. When I saw ‘Rocky’ [Pennington] with the belt, I was okay. I wasn’t upset or anything like that. I think I did the right decision retiring, resting a little bit.”
“I’m 35 now and now I am able to go back to Brazil, stay a little bit with my friends, family, enjoy and then see what happens, you know, I’m still young, fresh. We never know. 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. I’m a fighter and this is my job. I love this so much, and I don’t know… But I’m still healthy and powerful, smart, think like a champion. I still feel like a champion, so we’ll see,”
As for Pennington, she currently has her eyes set on Julianna Pena as her next fight.
“That’s the fight that makes sense,” “I honestly thought that for the world title it was going to be me and Julianna, but she’s still injured.
“That relationship just goes back to 2013 when we were both back in The Ultimate Fighter. Let’s just say I learned Julianna’s personality then, and it’s kind of one of those where you stay your way, and I’ll stay mine, but you get under my damn skin. I’ve been waiting for that fight for 13 years – whether the title is on the line or not.”
