Amanda Nunes revealed that she was considering retirement earlier this month, following her one-sided victory over Felicia Spencer at UFC 250. ‘The Lioness’ now feels that she has achieved all that she can within the sport. A statement which mirrors that of Henry Cejudo prior to his official retirement.
During her two division reign, Nunes has defeated all former champions across both weight classes and has now begun working her way through a shrinking list of contenders. Her dominance inside the Octagon has made her one of the UFC’s most marketable fighters and she has maintained a healthy working relationship with UFC president Dana White over the years.
‘I Will Kill Her’
However, speaking on The Shmozone podcast (transcribed by The Mac Life), Dana vented his surprise at Nunes’ recent retirement suggestion.
“I will kill her. I literally just told [UFC matchmakers] in the last meeting, ‘Let’s get this division built for her. Let’s build this division for her, and let’s start figuring this out’. And now she’s talking about retiring?”
The long standing UFC president was clearly rattled when asked about the situation. At only 32 years of age and with such a clear advantage over her opponents, Dana feels that Nunes would be wasting her potential, if she were to hang up the gloves right now.
“You know what’s awesome about that when you think about that. When you think about it? Her retiring isn’t awesome, that actually drives me nuts. You know how I always say, ‘If you’re talking about retiring, you probably should’. Unless if you’re where she’s at. It’s like what I said about [Daniel] Cormier when he was talking about retiring a couple of years ago.
“In this time when I got guys crying about money, one of our female fighters, who could go on and keep doing this for a long time is saying, ‘Maybe I retire now.’ She’s got plenty of money, and she can do it. Nobody ever brings that s*** up, that women are treated just like the men here.”
Nunes has hinted at retirement once before, but then stated she wanted to continue fighting for years to come. Although ‘The Lioness’ and her wife Nina Ansaroff, are expecting a child, it is unlikely that we will never see the Brazilian fight again.
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