UFC CEO Dana White didn’t hold back when asked about Amanda Nunes’ cryptic Instagram post that teased a return to the UFC.
During the post-event press conference following episode nine of Season 8 of the Dana White Contender Series, White was asked about Nunes’ pos.
Nunes tagged White, and in the video on her IG story, she was singing a song urging him to call her.
“I love Amanda Nunes,” White said. “I have a great relationship with her, and I would absolutely love to see her come back.”
White has said before that he felt Nunes retired too soon and that she had more fighting left in her. It seems he might have been accurate. Nunes is seemingly intrigued by coming out of retirement to face Julianna Pena or Kayla Harrison.
Both women won their fights on Saturday at UFC 307. Pena regained the UFC women’s bantamweight championship with a narrow victory over Raquel Pennington via split decision.
Pena won the title when she defeated Nunes via submission in December 2021 but lost it by unanimous decision in their rematch in July 2022.
Harrison, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and former Professional Fighters League champion, won a unanimous decision over Ketlen Vieira, seemingly setting up a title a fight for the title with Pena.
However, Pena used her post-fight time to call Nunes out of retirement for a trilogy fight.
Assuming she does return, whoever fights Nunes may have to do it at 145 pounds. Nunes was the featherweight champion, but the UFC suspended the division when she retired.
If the promotion were to rekindle it, it would take a massive star and a worthy opponent to serve as motivation. Nunes checks the box as the giant star, and there is an argument for Pena to come up to 145 to challenge her.
But the most intriguing fight for Nunes is probably against Harrison. The latter has had to put her body through a lot to make 135 pounds twice, and it is unclear how long she’ll be able to compete at bantamweight consistently.
Harrison was a champion at 145 pounds with the PFL, and with Nunes, they could potentially revive that division with the UFC.
Ideally, the UFC would like to sustain the women’s featherweight division longer than it did the last time it started it. Filling out the division is the greatest challenge.
A matchup between Nunes and Cris Cyborg was the biggest reason for the division, as the latter didn’t feel she could make 135 pounds. However, after Nunes defeated Cyborg and the latter went over to Bellator, no more intriguing fights remained in the division.
Perhaps the UFC could run an entire season of The Ultimate Fighter or multiple Dana White Contender Series episodes dedicated to the women’s featherweight division for Season 9.
There are several possibilities, but we’ll have to wait to see if Nunes makes her comeback official sometime soon or if she will wait to see what happens with Pena-Harrison.
