Before Amanda Nunes took her places atop the promotion’s bantamweight throne, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) crowned three women’s 135-pound champions: Ronda Rousey, Holly Holm, and Miesha Tate.
“Lioness” defeated all but one of them.
That’s probably why Dana White and Co. are expected to pit Nunes against Holm at some point this year, putting an end to the previously-scheduled Aspen Ladd fight and effectively ending any talks of a potential Cris Cyborg rematch.
“They don’t call me yet, but I’m waiting for it,” Nunes told reporters backstage at UFC Fortaleza. “Let’s see what’s going to happen. I think this fight is very interesting. Holly Holm is the only fighter who is a former champion who I didn’t fight her. That would be an interesting fight. I’m looking for this fight with Holly for sure and I’m ready for the call.”
Outside of Holm, the only fight that would make sense for Nunes is a rematch against Cat Zingano, who stopped the Brazilian by way of technical knockout back in late 2014. Unfortunately for “Alpha,” her career took a nosedive in the years that followed, to the tune of four losses in five fights.
That’s probably why there’s Nunes is contemplating retirement.
“I went home to see my family and stay a little bit with my family and my mom (said), ‘I think you should retire,’” Nunes said. “I think (about it) a little bit. We’ll see with this next stage what’s going on. I’m a little bit tired of all the big fights. I’m very happy and glad and proud that I did all that and I want a little break to get a family and focus more on Nina’s career. We’ll see. I say those thing, but you know how fighting is. We get involved so much and then we want to do it again. We’ll see.”
Nunes is engaged to UFC strawweight Nina Ansaroff.
Rousey and Tate have already called it quits in the wake of their respective struggles and Holm turns 38 this year, so I would imagine “The Preacher’s Daughter” — already a multi-time world champion boxer — can’t be far behind (despite these claims).
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