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Brett OkamotoJun 6, 2025, 09:11 PM ET
- Brett Okamoto has reported connected mixed martial arts and boxing astatine ESPN since 2010. He has covered each of the biggest events successful combat sports during that time, including in-depth interviews and features with names specified arsenic Dana White, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz, Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and Georges St-Pierre. He was besides a shaper connected the 30 for 30 film: "Chuck and Tito," which looked backmost astatine the careers and rivalry of Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. He lives successful Las Vegas, and is an avid, below-average golfer successful his spare time.
Amanda Nunes, the astir ascendant women's combatant successful UFC history, says she is coming retired of retirement.
Nunes (23-5) said she intends to combat the victor of Saturday's 135-pound title bout betwixt Julianna Peña and Kayla Harrison astatine UFC 316. The erstwhile two-weight UFC champion retired from MMA successful June 2023, but has agelong teased astatine a imaginable return. Nunes, 37, volition beryllium successful attendance astatine UFC 316 successful Newark.
"I missed [fighting] truthful much," Nunes said during a instrumentality Q & A connected Friday. "My babe is large now. She didn't slumber overmuch astatine nighttime [as a baby] and I was acrophobic astir that due to the fact that we fighters request sleep. But now, my babe is bigger and I'm acceptable to go. Kayla oregon Julianna, I'm going to beryllium ready."
Nunes and her partner, erstwhile UFC combatant Nina Ansaroff, person 2 children, calved successful 2020 and 2023.
While UFC president Dana White has said successful the past that helium would emotion to spot Nunes return, the promotion has not commented connected whether she would beryllium archetypal successful enactment to look the Pena-Harrison victor next.
"The Lioness" has past with some women successful Saturday's rubric fight. Peña (11-5) scored 1 of the biggest upsets successful UFC rubric combat past erstwhile she submitted Nunes for the loop successful 2021. The UFC booked an contiguous rematch and Nunes dominated Peña successful a five-round decision. Harrison (18-1) is simply a erstwhile sparring spouse and teammate of Nunes astatine American Top Team successful Coconut Creek, Florida.
Nunes was the statement No. 1 pound-for-pound women's combatant successful the satellite astatine the clip of her retirement. On Friday, she expressed anticipation that longtime No. 1 pound-for-pound antheral combatant Jon Jones would clasp disconnected his pending status agelong capable for them to vie connected the aforesaid paper again. They co-headlined cards successful 2018 and 2019.
"I would emotion to combat connected the aforesaid paper [as Jones]," Nunes said. "That would beryllium awesome. I ever person bully luck erstwhile Jon is connected the card. I anticipation helium hears that."
