Amanda Nunes has revealed the real reason that caused her to depart from American Top Team.
Ahead of her upcoming rematch with the current UFC women’s bantamweight queen Julianna Pena, Nunes decided to leave her longtime gym, ATT, to open her own training facility. While she had been lowkey about why she left, Nunes has finally opened up about her preparations for UFC 277.
Amanda Nunes reveals the real reason she left ATT
In a recent appearance on The DC Check-In show with Cormier, Nunes talked about the split from her previous coaches.
“Honestly, I don’t want to really put my loss on my coach. I take all the responsibility for that but Conan was my head coach for so long, he was somebody that would’ve been able to stop me from that.”
“I told (Conan) I don’t want to put this in your bag. I really need you in those moments. I needed you to be my mind in that moment and I was by myself.”
She further explained how Kayla Harrison’s arrival fastened her move away from the gym.
“I don’t want to walk in my gym and have a girl that’s trained with my coach. In my gym, that’s like attacking me all the time, in the media. And then when we walk to the gym for training, we’re best friends. That’s not going to work, man.
“If you’re going to fight me, you’re going to fight me. Let’s figure it out and you cannot be here. She cannot be here in my gym. She has to go.”
Nunes shared her struggles leading up to the first fight
When Pena submitted Nunes to become the new champion at UFC 269, it was a historic moment. The once-dominant queen had been knocked off her throne after years of reigning at the top. There was speculation about what exactly happened as many argued Nunes didn’t look like herself.
She informed Cormier of the struggles she faced going into the first contest, and why she shouldn’t have taken the booking.
“Everything that’s not me, I’m never going to brawl and just stay there. I always have my timing, my in and out is very good because she avoided those moments.
“It’s when I’m shining when I’m outside and then go back and put it on top of everything she’s showed me. But I’d always be able to move it, at all, my legs couldn’t move and I couldn’t move in my camp because I had my knee injury.”
Nunes will rematch Pena at UFC 277 on July 30 in Dallas, Texas.
