Nunes goes out on top, retires after dominant win

Amanda Nunes laid her two UFC championship belts on the Octagon mat and had the cutman remove her gloves. She put the gloves in the middle of the two titles, kneeled down and cried into the canvas.

After one of her most dominant performances in years, the greatest women’s fighter of all time announced her retirement at UFC 289 on Saturday in Vancouver.

“Double champion forever,” Nunes said. “This is the perfect night to retire.”

Nunes beat Irene Aldana via unanimous decision (50-43, 50-44, 50-44) in the main event of the pay-per-view card, a comprehensive performance in which Nunes won just about every minute. With the win, Nunes defended her UFC women’s bantamweight title. She is also the UFC women’s featherweight champion. And apparently she will vacate both belts in retirement.

Aldana was a fill-in opponent. Former champion Julianna Peña was supposed to have a trilogy fight against Nunes on Saturday, but after breaking her ribs was forced to withdraw.

Nunes is ESPN’s top pound-for-pound women’s fighter. ESPN had Aldana ranked No. 6 in the world at bantamweight coming in. Nunes is one of only four fighters in UFC history to hold two divisional title simultaneously — and one of the best to ever compete in the Octagon, man or woman.

Nunes (23-5) regained the bantamweight title in her previous fight, a unanimous decision win over Peña at UFC 277 last July. Peña had ended Nunes’ UFC women’s record 12-fight winning streak and title reign at UFC 269 in December 2021.

Nunes, 35, has the most UFC title fight wins among women in history (11) and the most finishes in UFC women’s history (10). The Brazilian-born fighter who trains out of Florida has beaten every other competitor who has held the UFC women’s featherweight and bantamweight titles, including Cris Cyborg, Ronda Rousey and Holly Holm. She also owns two wins over former UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko, another all-time great.

Aldana (14-6) had won two straight and seven of her past nine fights coming into the bout. The Mexican-born fighter had finished her most recent three wins via KO/TKO. Aldana, 35, has a 7-5 UFC record.

Nunes was in the UFC for 10 years, accumulating a 16-2 record.