Dana White praised Amanda Nunes after the two-division champion retired on Saturday night.
In the UFC 289 main event, Nunes extended her legendary resume with a one-sided beatdown against Irene Aldana, leading to a unanimous decision win (50-44 x2 and 50-43). Shortly after defending her women’s bantamweight title, ‘The Lioness’ announced her retirement, ending her career as the female GOAT.
During the UFC 289 post-fight press conference, White was asked about Nunes retiring and had this to say:
“I’m not shocked that she retired. I’ve been saying for a while, she’s made a lot of money and her life is a lot different than it was ten years ago… I’m definitely happy for her. Would I like to see her stick around and do some more? Absolutely. I love the kid.”
The UFC president continued by saying:
“She’s been incredible to work with, she’s such a good human being, and a great champion, and, obviously, the greatest female fighter of all time. I’d love to keep her around, but if she’s ready to go, you gotta be happy for her.”
Nunes has walked away from MMA with a record of 23-5. The two-division UFC champion holds numerous records in the women’s divisions, including most title fights, wins, consecutive wins, finishes, and more. Safe to say, there is a void that must be filled without ‘The Lioness.’
Dana White says the women’s featherweight division will ‘probably’ retire with Amanda Nunes
The women’s featherweight division was run by Amanda Nunes without any official rankings due to the lack of contenders. Nunes last defended the 145-pound title in March 2021, when she submitted Megan Anderson in the first round.
During the same press conference, Dana White had this to say about potentially retiring the women’s featherweight division with Nunes:
“The answer is probably yes [the women’s featherweight division will retire with Amanda Nunes]. I don’t make these decisions right after a fight… I don’t know, but it makes sense.”
Although the women’s featherweight division could be gone, the bantamweight division must go in a different direction without Nunes. Julianna Pena will likely be associated with the vacant title fight, considering she was supposed to fight ‘The Lioness’ again before getting injured.
Pena will likely be matched up against the number two-ranked Raquel Pennington.
