Amanda Nunes just set the record straight on the UFC women’s featherweight division. In an interview with Amy Kaplan of FanSided, Nunes, the reigning featherweight and bantamweight champion, revealed that the featherweight division isn’t going anywhere. Nunes said this days after her opponent Megan Anderson said UFC told her the division was done and didn’t resign her to a new deal.
“They did not cut the division,” Nunes said. “Dana and I have a great relationship, as long as I want to defend it he will find me opponents.” Nunes defeated Anderson to retain her featherweight title at UFC 259 on March 6. FanSided states that Nunes will defend her bantamweight title against Juliana Pena, but the match is not official. Whoever Nunes faces, she will likely be the favorite as she hasn’t lost a match since September 2014.
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“I see myself having my hand raised and retaining my belt,” she said when talking about her next fight. “I will be working with a nutritionist and taking care of my body properly to have it working the way it needs to be.” Nunes won the UFC Women’s Featherweight Champion in December of 2018 at UFC 232. She defeated Cris Cyborg in the first round via knockout. UFC 259 was Nunes’ first bout since June 2020 as she welcomed her first child with her wife and fellow UFC fighter Nina Ansaroff in September.
“Everything that I do I think of my daughter and how it would reflect on her,” she stated. “It is very important that we raise our daughters to be strong and the best way to do so is lead by example.” Before winning the featherweight title, Nunes won the bantamweight title in 2016 when she defeated Miesha Tate at UFC 200. Pena, one of the top competitors in the bantamweight division, called out Nunes on Twitter.
“So Holly is off, she can fight Germaine,” Nunes told reporters at the UFC 259 news conference, as reported by MMA Junkie. “I feel like she has to get in the mix, but we’ll see. I’m going to go back down, I’m going to see my diet because now I’m pretty heavy, so yeah. I’m a champion. I’m never going to turn down fights. I’m going to be facing whoever Dana White wants me to face.”
