Amanda Nunes has been away, and she apparently doesn’t love what happened to women’s bantamweight while she was gone. MMA Junkie reported Wednesday that Nunes believes the division has “slowed down,” a pointed thing to say during the week she’s set to walk back into it.
The timing is deliberate or convenient, and either way it lands. Nunes co-headlines UFC 334 on Saturday, Nov. 14, against Kayla Harrison. Dana White confirmed the card’s top two fights in a clip shared by Championship Rounds on X, naming Hokit vs. Gane as the main event and “Amanda Nunes vs Kayla Harrison” as the co-main. UFC Brasil framed the comeback in plain terms, writing on X that Nunes is back and motivated (“De volta e motivada!”) and asking fans whether the Lioness will reclaim the belt.
That nickname has history. Nunes earned “Leoa” as a teenager training at the Edson Carvalho academy in Salvador, where the gym logo featured two lions and she was the only woman on the mats. She went on to become a two-time UFC women’s bantamweight champion and the former featherweight champion. She is the only woman to win UFC titles in two divisions, and she joined Conor McGregor and Daniel Cormier as the only fighters to hold two UFC belts at once. She also defended both while holding both, which nobody else in UFC history has done. In 2022 she sat at No. 1 in the women’s pound-for-pound rankings.
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So when someone with that résumé says a division got sleepy, people listen, and the person most likely to take it personally is Harrison. The two already faced off in the middle of Times Square to open fight week, per MMA Junkie on X.
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Fight week has had its lighter moments. Championship Rounds posted footage of Josh Hokit swiping Nunes’ belts at UFC 334 media day, which is a bold move toward a woman who has spent her career taking things from people. Nunes’ daughter also weighed in with a game plan of sorts, saying in a clip shared on X: “I wish for my mom to get the belt every fight, and Kayla loses every fight.” Strategically thin, but I respect the clarity.
The critique only carries weight if Nunes backs it up. If she beats Harrison on Saturday, “slowed down” becomes the opening line of her next title run. If she loses, it becomes the quote Harrison reads back to her for years.
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