Amanda Nunes was formally announced as the latest fighter to be inducted to the UFC Hall of Fame, with the announcement coming during the UFC 314 live broadcast in Miami, where an emotional Nunes was in attendance.
“They surprised me. I didn’t expect it at all,” Nunes told ESPN.
“I love this game. I love the fight. And I miss it so much. I honestly have a hard time being away. I tried everything. I tried maybe coaching, maybe doing this and that, but I’m a fighter, you know? I’m a lioness.
“I cannot be away from this game, [and I am] so ready to get back here, but tonight was amazing.”
Nunes captured the UFC women’s bantamweight title in the main event of UFC 200 when she finished Miesha Tate via submission to claim her first UFC crown. She then made an emphatic statement in her first title defence as she demolished the returning Ronda Rousey at UFC 207.
Two more bantamweight title defences followed as she defeated Valentina Shevchenko and Raquel Pennington, before she became a simultaneous two-division champion by knocking out Cris Cyborg in a wild 51-second firefight at UFC 232.
Nunes added four more title defences – two at bantamweight, two at featherweight – before she lost her 135-pound crown to Julianna Pena in a huge shock at UFC 269.
Nunes avenged that loss seven months later as she reclaimed her bantamweight crown at UFC 277 and, after defeating Irene Aldana at UFC 289, announced her retirement from the sport.
Nunes holds the remarkable record of having defeated every woman to have ever held the UFC’s women’s bantamweight and featherweight titles, as well as the most dominant women’s flyweight champion ever, Shevchenko.
But now a return could be on the cards. During the press conference for UFC 316, Nunes, sitting in the stands, appeared to say that she’s ready to make a comeback.
It would add further spice to the scheduled title clash between Pena and Kayla Harrison, who are slated to face off for the 135-pound title in Newark, New Jersey, on June 7.
Later that month, Nunes will be officially inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame as only the third female inductee at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on June 26.
