LAS VEGAS – Norma Dumont thinks Amanda Nunes should defend her featherweight title or the division move on without her.
Dual champ Nunes (22-5 MMA, 15-2 UFC) hasn’t defended her featherweight title since submitting Megan Anderson in March 2021. She has since lost her bantamweight title to Julianna Peña then regained it in an immediate rematch.
With their series tied 1-1, Nunes and Peña will attempt to complete their trilogy in the UFC 289 headliner on June 10. But Dumont (9-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC), who defeated Karol Rosa in a featherweight bout this past Saturday at UFC Fight Night 222, is tired of waiting and is ready for her title shot.
“I think that this is the time for the UFC to perhaps step in,” Dumont told reporters through an interpreter at the UFC Fight Night 222 post-fight press conference. “First of all, the belt has not been defended for three years. I mean, she’s just sitting on it right there. I stayed at featherweight exactly for this very reason. So, either they pressure her into actually defending the title once and for all, or I will fight someone else for the interim title.”
If she could pick someone to fight for the interim title, Dumont would love it to be former bantamweight champion Holly Holm.
“Please, Holly Holm, let’s go to work,” Dumont said. “My dream is fighting her. I’ve tried many times, and she never answers me.”
Dumont hopes Nunes can close out her chapter with Peña emphatically, so she can pivot to defending her featherweight title against her.
“No doubt that I want to face her,” Dumont said. “When I got this matchup to face Karol, I knew exactly the fighter that I was going to see. A tough opponent, someone who was going to come right at me and offer me a very, very good pre-Amanda fight. That’s what I saw. I want Amanda to beat Julianna convincingly so that we can face each other by the end of the year. And my camp starts tomorrow.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 222.
