Amanda Nunes Says Burnout Nearly Ended Her Career Before UFC 334 Comeback
Amanda Nunes returns to challenge Kayla Harrison at UFC 334 on Saturday after more than three years away from the octagon.
Amanda Nunes has not fought since June 2023. On Saturday, the 38-year-old former two-division champion steps back into the octagon at Madison Square Garden to challenge Kayla Harrison for the UFC women's bantamweight title in the co-main event of UFC 334.
Nunes retired after her unanimous decision win over Irene Aldana at UFC 289, relinquishing the bantamweight belt and walking away from the sport she had dominated for nearly a decade. By the time she left, she held the record for the longest combined title reign in UFC women's history and owned a 23-5 record.
But the retirement was driven by exhaustion as much as anything else. Nunes told Deep Waters that she felt burned out from the constant pressure of defending titles across two divisions. She feared that if she kept fighting in that state, the losses would come. Per Just Women's Sports, she said she "kind of needed" the time away.
The comeback is not a farewell tour, per Nunes. She told Deep Waters that if she wins on Saturday, she plans to defend the belt. "You've got to defend the belt," she said. "And then we're going to see."
The fight was originally booked for January at UFC 324, but Harrison withdrew after surgery for herniated discs in her neck. Harrison, who holds a 19-1 record and two Olympic judo gold medals, won the bantamweight title by submitting Julianna Pena at UFC 316 in June 2025.
Nunes's daughter Raegan, six years old, has her own gameplan for the fight. Per MMA Sucka, a video showed Raegan telling her mother to "punch her in the face" and demonstrating knee strikes. It will have been more than 1,250 days since Nunes last competed when she walks to the cage on Saturday.
This is the most compelling women's MMA fight in years, and it is not close. You have the consensus greatest of all time coming out of a three-year retirement to fight the woman who took her belt. At Madison Square Garden. In the co-main event of one of the biggest UFC cards of the year.
I think Nunes is being honest when she says the burnout was real. Defending two belts across two weight classes would grind anyone down. But she looks refreshed in the training footage, and at 38 she is not ancient by MMA standards.
The question is ring rust. More than three years is a long time, and Harrison is not some tune-up opponent. She is a world-class grappler who will try to drag Nunes into deep water on the mat. If Nunes can keep it standing and land that power early, she can absolutely pull this off. If Harrison gets a hold of her, we might be looking at a changing of the guard for good.
