Two-weight UFC champion Amanda Nunes retired from fighting after defending her world title against Irene Aldana.
Nunes, 35, won a shutout decision against Aldana in the main event of UFC 289 in Vancouver, Canada on Saturday night. 'The Lioness' then surprised fans by announcing her retirement in the cage just moments after being declared the winner. Nunes took off her gloves and laid her two belts on the ground before making an emotional retirement speech to the Canadian crowd.
"And still, forever! Double champion for life, double champion forever," Nunes said. "Tonight is a perfect night to retire and live happy forever. My mum has been asking me to stop doing this for so long, she cannot take this anymore. I decided right now that I have to spend more time with my family in Brazil. I left them so long ago to pursue this journey."
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Nunes leaves behind a legacy as arguably the greatest female MMA fighter of all-time. 'The Lioness' became just the third UFC fighter after Conor McGregor and Daniel Cormier to hold titles in two weight classes simultaneously, but she was also the first and only fighter to defend both of the belts whilst reigning as champion in the respective divisions.
The Brazilian first won a world title by tapping out Miesha Tate at UFC 200 in 2016. Nunes then defended her title by knocking out the likes of Ronda Rousey and Holly Holm, with the Brazilian also capturing the featherweight belt by stopping Cris Cyborg in 2018. Nunes ends her fighting career with a record of 23-5 after her win against Aldana.
UFC boss Dana White said of Nunes' retirement: "I'm not shocked that she retired. I've been saying for a while that she made a lot of money and her life is a lot different than it was 10 years ago. I'm definitely happy for her, would I like to see her stick around and do some more? Absolutely. She's been incredible to work with and she's been such a great champion."
One person who wasn't happy with Nunes' retirement was her old rival Julianna Pena as she tweeted: "I scared you so bad into retirement. I’ll take that as a compliment. Personally, congratulations. Professionally, wtf was that? Canadians don’t boo, they just walked out quietly before the fight was over."
