Amanda Nunes has weighed in on Ronda Rousey’s return, and she was mostly generous about it. Speaking with Demetrious Johnson, Nunes praised Rousey’s 17-second submission of Gina Carano as a big moment for women’s MMA. She then offered her former opponent some advice: tune out the haters and pay attention to the people in her corner.
“It was great for women’s MMA. It was huge,” Nunes told Johnson, as reported by Bloody Elbow. “Ronda has a lot of fans. A lot more people like her than hate her.”
She followed that with the advice itself. “I think she should look more for those people who like her.”
That advice has a clear target. In the lead-up to the Carano fight, Rousey repeatedly criticized the UFC and accused MMA fans of turning on her. Whatever she thought the fans felt, a lot of them showed up. The Netflix broadcast drew a peak audience of nearly 17 million viewers worldwide and broke the US viewership record for an MMA event.
The 48 seconds that ended the first run
Nunes is the reason Rousey’s first career ended where it did. She stopped Rousey in 48 seconds at UFC 207 in December 2016, and Rousey retired afterward. Roughly a decade later, Rousey came back this year and needed 17 seconds to finish Carano.
Nunes was happy to see Carano back in the cage, but she didn’t pretend it was a competitive fight. Carano had been away for 17 years. “It was amazing seeing Gina fight,” Nunes said. “Everybody was so excited, and everybody wins with that fight.” She added, “I feel like it wasn’t that powerful just because Gina was out for so long and having problems.” Nunes also credited Rousey for helping Carano work through a lot on her way back.
Nobody called Nunes
Johnson asked the obvious question, whether Nunes was ever approached to be the comeback opponent. She wasn’t. “Ronda, until this day, doesn’t acknowledge I fought her,” Nunes said. “She has never said my name one time in her whole entire life. They never called me.”
The 38-year-old made it clear she wouldn’t have taken the call anyway. “I am UFC all the way. This is my dream. I wanna fight in the UFC,” she said. “The UFC belt is the belt.”
That belt is the next item on her list. Nunes is booked against Kayla Harrison at UFC 334, and the UFC has named an official backup fighter for the bout. Ailin Perez missed out on that spot. “That is the belt I always chase, and I’m gonna get a brand new one soon,” Nunes said.
My take: Nunes gave the most honest technical read anyone has offered on that fight, and she did it in two sentences. A 17-second finish over someone coming off a 17-year layoff tells you Rousey’s entries still work on a cold opponent. It tells you nothing about how she handles a second round, a scramble, or someone who hits back. The 17 million viewers are real and the sport should be glad to have them. The fight that will actually tell us something about elite women’s MMA in 2026 is Nunes against Harrison at UFC 334, and I’d much rather break that one down frame by frame.
