Included in that list of achievements is the fact that Nunes has beaten each and every fighter to hold the UFC bantamweight title, a mark she once again accomplished when she regained her title from Julianna Pena last summer in Dallas following her stunning upset loss at the end of 2021.
The two were initially slated to meet for a third time this weekend, in the main event of UFC 289 in Vancouver, but an injury to Pena opened the door for Mexican challenger Irene Aldana, which sparked new competitive fires inside of Nunes.
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“In the first place, me and the UFC were talking about Aldana,” explained Nunes, vibrant and full of energy while sitting in her hotel room, days before returning to the Octagon. “We were talking, nothing was for sure, but I was already training for Aldana, and when things changed and they told me, ‘Let’s do it with Julianna,’ I was like, ‘Let’s do it!’
“I’m at that point that I want to keep fighting. I don’t want to be waiting and lose that momentum, especially after my last performance. I want to keep being creative, keep going, so when they talked about Julianna, I said, ‘Let’s do it!’ I just wanted to see which one it was going to be because I want to be able to focus on one of them.
“I ended up training a little bit for Aldana in the beginning, then I was training for Julianna, and so when everything changed, I was like, ‘All right — it’s a new opponent,’” added the 35-year-old, who came out flat, unfocused, and ill-prepared in her initial fight with Pena, costing her the title. “When you defend and you fight somebody twice, you’re kind of like, ‘All right, I’m ready for somebody new’ because you don’t want to see that face any more.”
As much as those of us watching from the outside love to express how we’d play professional sports for free and never encounter obstacles when it comes to motivation and preparation when world-class talents falter or the focus wanes, the truth of the matter is that being a professional fighter is a different kind of grind, and it takes a different kind of mindset and resolve to remain at the top for as long as Nunes has.
Next month marks seven years since “The Lioness” marched into the Octagon at UFC 200 and snatched the title away from Miesha Tate with a jaw-dropping effort that made it clear that a new dominant force had emerged on the scene in the 135-pound weight class.
UFC 289 Full Fight Card Preview
Over the next five years, Nunes beat, in order, Ronda Rousey, Valentina Shevchenko, and Raquel Pennington before venturing up to featherweight and running through Cris Cyborg like a human buzzsaw to achieve “Champ-Champ” status. She then returned to bantamweight, successfully defending her title against Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie before moving back up to featherweight and dispatching Felicia Spencer and Megan Anderson.
She beat every former bantamweight and featherweight champion in UFC history, plus Shevchenko, whose extended run atop the flyweight division was halted by Alexa Grasso earlier this year, Pennington, and the only two contenders that emerged in the 145-pound weight class.
When you’ve accomplished all that, grinding through another training camp amidst COVID restrictions, gym issues, and injuries can be daunting, and it resulted in Nunes losing her title. But once she was back to full health, set up in her new Lioness Studio, and dialed back in, the former champion became the reigning champion once more, dominating Pena for all five rounds to claim a unanimous decision victory and return to her seat atop the division.
“You wanna train for somebody new! I trained for Julianna twice,” she said, pausing to offer a moment of levity and self-awareness. “Actually, I trained good for that last one — I did a good camp — but I saw that face twice and it wouldn’t be bad to see somebody else.”
Some fighters will never be able to laugh at losing a fight, let alone their title, regardless of whether they got it back or not. But Nunes finds humor and comfort in the truth, knowing that the one time she was able to dial in to face Pena, she defeated “The Venezuelan Vixen” and showed she’s still the queen of the bantamweight jungle.
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“That makes me motivated even more to try to do something new, learn new things and move on, and now we’re here — new opponent and I’m very excited about this.
“(Losing) took me from my comfort zone, which I like sometimes,” she added, offering a truth few in her position would let out into the world. “It made me not sleep on anybody; made me work hard again to get my belt back in my gym, and I did it.”
After resolving herself to settling things with Pena once and for all, the shift to facing Aldana on Saturday has stoked a different kind of fire in Nunes, as she’s not only a fresh challenger, but also someone coming in with a ton of personal and cosmic momentum at her back.
In addition to having won each of her last two fights inside the distance and posting four wins in her last five appearances, Aldana looks to become the fourth Mexican fighter to compete for and win UFC gold in 2023.
Brandon Moreno got things rolling by unifying the flyweight titles in January. A month later, Yair Rodriguez claimed the interim featherweight title, and a month after that, Aldana’s close friend and longtime training partner Grasso pounced when Shevchenko threw her signature spinning back kick, wrestling her to the canvas and forcing her to submit to claim the flyweight belt.
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Now the dangerous, heavy-handed Aldana is on a mission to once again force Nunes from her throne and join her compatriots as UFC titleholders, but the Brazilian champion has other ideas.
“A very good challenger, a tough opponent, and the kind of girl you cannot sleep on,” she said, offering her assessment of Aldana. “You’ve gotta be really aware, really fast to find a way to win the fight. She moves a lot, she knows how to use her reach; good transitions in her wrestling, good ground game — we gotta watch out for everything with Aldana.
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“This is the first time we faced each other, so I’m not in my comfort zone, and it’s in those moments that I shine. When I get taken away from my comfort zone, I know I can’t sleep in those moments. I feel like this is gonna be a great fight.”
As we talked, I told Nunes she seemed more lively, more excited at the outset of fight week than she had been the previous six or seven times we spoke, our pre-fight conversations having become a regular occurrence throughout the last seven years.
There were other fights where she was filled with energy and it came spilling out of her — ahead of her fights with Rousey, Cyborg, and Holm, and prior to making history by defeating Spencer at UFC 250.
But in other instances, she seemed weary, worn out — personal and professional life challenges mixing with the burden of being a long-reigning champion combining to drag some of the joyousness out of her.
UFC 289 COUNTDOWN: Nunes vs Aldana | Oliveira vs Dariush | Full Episode
This time around, she’s radiating excitement and anticipation — her tone, her movements, her facial expression in sync with the words she’s saying.
“I’m so excited to be here! I’m ready to go, 100 percent!” she said, smiling and full of life just a few days before returning to battle. “My body, my mind, my spirit — I’m so pumped for this fight and I’m hungry! ‘The Lioness’ is hungry!”
And she is ready to take out Aldana and earn another championship victory in whatever manner she can on Saturday.
“Honestly, anything can happen,” offered Nunes, the exuberance dialed back as she spoke about collecting another successful title defense, which again seems like something she knows she has to work for, not a foregone conclusion. “If I connect first, I’m sure I’m gonna put her down. If this fight has to go long, I’m ready, too.
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“Anything, I’ll take it — submission, knockout, decision; I’ll take it. I’ll do anything to bring my belt home with me and then do it all over again.
Don’t miss a moment of UFC 289: Nunes vs Aldana, live from the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada. Prelims start at 8pm ET/5pm PT, while the main card kicks off live on PPV at 10pm ET/7pm PT.
