Amanda Nunes has never been one to chase the spotlight for its own sake. When she first left the sport in 2023, it didn’t feel like a publicity cycle or a negotiating tactic—it felt final. She had just delivered another masterclass, outpointing Irene Aldana over five rounds to retain the women’s bantamweight title, and then calmly announced she was done. She walked away with championships in two divisions, a résumé stacked with the biggest names of her era, and a claim to greatness that very few fighters—male or female—can match.
That retirement, though, came with an asterisk that almost every great champion shares: the sport moved on without her, and it did so quickly. The bantamweight division kept turning, new contenders rose, and this year the UFC has a fresh queen at 135 pounds. Kayla Harrison, the former Olympic judo star and longtime destroyer in other promotions, captured the women’s bantamweight belt earlier in 2025. Her arrival instantly shifted the division’s gravity. There are champions, and then there are champions who change the storyline of a weight class; Harrison’s dominance and star power put her firmly in the second category.
For Nunes, that matters. The idea of returning had floated around since she stepped away, but it never gathered real momentum until Harrison put gold around her waist. Now the rumors are no longer idle chatter. The expectation inside the fight world is that Nunes will re-enter the Octagon in early 2026 for a title shot against the new champion, with early reporting suggesting the UFC wants that super fight to headline a major card tied to the promotion’s new broadcast partnership launching in January, 2026. If that plan holds, the UFC wouldn’t just be booking a title defense—it would be using a generational matchup to christen a new era.
The broader appeal is obvious. Harrison is the rare athlete who carried legitimate crossover fame into MMA, and she did it with skill that translated immediately in the UFC. Nunes, meanwhile, still represents the sport’s gold standard for female greatness. Even in retirement she has remained the reference point for every “best-ever” debate. Put those two together, and you have a bout that sells itself to hardcore fans and casual viewers alike.
But Nunes’ path to this moment is shaped by a career filled with defining rivalries, none bigger than the one she shared with Valentina Shevchenko. Their first meeting in 2016 came early in Shevchenko’s UFC journey, long before she became a champion and a pound-for-pound staple. Still, even then it felt like a crossroads fight between elite talents. Nunes won by unanimous decision, handing ‘Bullet’ only her second professional loss at the time and stamping herself as the division’s future.
That victory was a springboard. It earned Nunes a title opportunity against Meisha Tate, and she seized it in ruthless fashion, taking the bantamweight belt and beginning a reign that would define women’s MMA for years. Shevchenko, to her credit, retooled and surged back with a pair of wins that made a rematch inevitable. The UFC booked them for UFC 213 in July 2017, expecting a championship showdown between the reigning queen and the rising challenger.
Instead, the morning of the event became one of the strangest days in modern title-fight history. Just hours before she was set to walk to the cage, Nunes fell seriously ill and was taken to hospital. She later revealed she was suffering from chronic sinusitis, a condition that hit her hard enough to make competing impossible. The fight was scrapped at the eleventh hour, leaving a stunned arena, furious fans, and a division in limbo.
In a sport that rarely gets second chances on the same scale, the UFC did the right thing by rebooking it quickly. The two finally met a couple of months later at UFC 215 in Edmonton. What followed was five rounds of razor-close, high-level MMA—Nunes bringing her power and aggression, Shevchenko countering with poise and technical brilliance. When the final horn sounded, the uncertainty in the arena was palpable. Many believed Shevchenko had done enough, others saw Nunes’ forward pressure and damage as the deciding factor. The judges were split as well, awarding Nunes a narrow decision that still fuels debate whenever their names come up.
Whether you scored that fight for Nunes or Shevchenko, it became emblematic of what made Nunes great: she survived the sport’s most difficult moments and still found ways to win. She went on to dominate two divisions, finishing legends, stopping unbeaten contenders, and collecting victories that aged beautifully as the years passed.
That history is part of why her looming return feels so significant. The UFC doesn’t need Nunes back to fill a vacancy. The division has a champion. It has contenders. It has momentum. Nunes is returning because of the specific challenge in front of her. Harrison is not just another titleholder in line—she is the one matchup that can reframe Nunes’ legacy in a new light. Beat Harrison, and Nunes doesn’t merely reclaim a belt; she reasserts her status against the most physically imposing and decorated newcomer the division has seen in years.
The question fans are asking now is just as important as the matchup itself: will this be a one-off appearance, or a full comeback? All signs point toward a targeted return rather than an open-ended second chapter. Nunes has been clear in the past that her retirement was about family, longevity, and leaving on her own terms. She isn’t coming back because she misses fighting every contender in the queue. She’s coming back because Harrison holding the title creates a rare, legacy-defining moment that is hard for any all-time great to ignore.
Even if it’s only one fight, it’s the kind of one fight that can shake the sport. If Nunes wins, she closes her career with the ultimate exclamation mark—beating the new champion who was supposed to symbolize the future. If Harrison wins, she likely becomes the fighter who finally turns the page on the Nunes era, and maybe the one who takes the GOAT conversation for herself.
Either way, the UFC has a blockbuster on its hands, and women’s MMA has the kind of historical crossroads fight that only comes around once in a while. The Lioness is stalking her way back to the cage, and the new champion is waiting at the top of the mountain.
