Former two-division UFC champion Amanda Nunes revealed late last week that she’s set to make a comeback from retirement, and now she’s confirmed that what she wants most is to win back the bantamweight title by beating Kayla Harrison.
“Kayla or Julianna [Pena], I want my belt back, and I’ll fight for it,” Nunes told UFC Fight Pass Brazil. “I’m driven by challenges. I like to fight for something.
“Kayla is strong as hell, that’s the one I want. It could be Julianna, cool. I fought her twice, I’ll fight her again. Kayla is strong, she’s coming now and is on a good level, has good judo and great grappling, she’s evolving on the feet, and that’s the one I want. This new thing.”
Nunes rivalry with Pena is well established, but she also had some behind-the-scenes tension with Harrison a few years ago after the Judoka began training at ATT in Florida where she had been training for years, which eventually led to her deciding to cut ties with the camp.
“We didn’t have a partnership in the gym,” Nunes said at the weekend regarding her interactions with Harrison at ATT. “There was no such thing, but we did some training here and there. I was out of shape, I was always traveling, coming back and doing some training. It wasn’t like we were always training [together] or I was in shape and training with Kayla. Never like that. It was always something random, but that’s it. I’m ready for anyone. I mean it.”
Nunes watched from the crowd as Harrison and Nunes talk up their upcoming UFC 316 fight at a press-conference last week, and it’s left her determined to ensure that the winner of that fight has a short-lived title reign.
“It’s different for me to see things from the outside and see my belt there,” Nunes said. “It’s like that belt was just fantasy, that the real one is back home with me. Seeing that only motivates me. Let them fight each other and then I’ll come and take my belt and restore the calm.”
