Credit: Twitter
Amanda Nunes announced her retirement from MMA on June 10, Saturday at the UFC 289. The announcement came after Nunes took down Irene Aldana over the course of five rounds to defend her UFC title at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. As the ‘Lioness’ decimated her rival, she took the opportunity to call it quits on her MMA career. Soon after her announcement, the MMA community paid homage to the double champion’s legendary career. However, there was one tweet that caught everyone’s attention, and it was none other than her arch-rival Julianna Pena, who reacted to the retirement by saying that she ‘scared Nunes into retirement’.
Julianna Pena called for a trilogy fight after losing her bantamweight fight to Amanda Nunes in UFC 277 main event. However, the highly anticipated trilogy fight got canceled as Pena broke her ribs. As the news disappointed the fans, it didn’t take long for a replacement to step up for the challenge. Mexican bantamweight fighter Irene Aldana was announced as Pena’s replacement.
However, the epic trilogy that was put on hold wouldn’t come into action as Nunes decided to retire after her UFC 289 fight. Reacting to this, Pena tweeted, “I scared you so bad into retirement. Personally, Congratulations. Professionally, wtf was that? #UFC289”
As Nunes announced her retirement, she got quite emotional and kept saying "I did it” and “double champion forever.” Nunes, 35, is undoubtedly one of the greatest fighters in women’s MMA history. She lost to Pena back in 2021, but outside of it, she has won her last 14 fights, which include eight total UFC title defenses in two different weight classes.
