Amanda Nunes credits loss for reigniting her fire

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Sitting on the prime of the sport, Amanda Nunes was primarily on cruise management, defeating the highest ladies throughout the game of blended martial arts. However then Julianna Peña upset her in one of many extra stunning upsets in latest reminiscence.

Peña could have been on prime of the world following that victory, which precipitated Nunes to think about strolling away, nevertheless it solely served to re-awaken the Lioness inside Nunes.

Why Amanda Nunes opted to not retire

Heading into her UFC 289 headlining bantamweight title protection reverse Irene Aldana, Nunes spoke with UFC commentator Jon Anik. She recounted her loss to Peña, her choice to backtrack on retirement, and the renewed vigor with which she approaches the rest of her profession.

Following her UFC 269 loss to Peña, Nunes advised her longtime coach and good friend Din Thomas, “I believe I’m completed.” Fortunate for her, he advised Nunes to take time to consider it and name him later.

She did and the outcome wasn’t merely that she wouldn’t retire. Actually, Nunes says she couldn’t retire figuring out that Peña had the belt. She additionally discovered a approach to reinvigorate a profession that had put her into an excessive amount of of a consolation zone.

“I can’t go away my belt with Julianna. And could be anyone else, however (not) her,” Nunes recounted. “She doesn’t deserve that belt.”

Surprisingly, that didn’t simply lead Nunes to persevering with her profession, however to additionally shaking up her coaching. Having spent eight years with American High Staff, Nunes realized that she was too snug. She wanted to search out the starvation that drove her to turning into the UFC’s first feminine dual-division titleholder.

Nunes left American High Staff, creating her personal coaching camp

Nunes talked to her supporters at American High Staff and struck out on her personal, not as a result of ATT wasn’t good for her, however as a result of she wanted a brand new problem, a brand new approach to put herself again on the hunt.

“Nothing was flawed (at ATT), I simply need to transfer on, to see what’s there by myself,” Nunes defined.

“We did it collectively, however one thing in my coronary heart, in my thoughts, inform me it’s time to maneuver on. That was the suitable time to maneuver on. I bought again dwelling and put every thing collectively. I used to be out of my consolation zone. That is how I need to be. I need to be risk; I need to be harmful.”

After having gained the UFC bantamweight and featherweight belts, defending each a number of instances, she felt too snug. She did that with another person’s staff, now it’s time to place all of it on the road and see what she will construct on her personal.

In fact, she’s constructed a staff of help. No fighter does this alone, however now it’s in her purview to make all of it come collectively. And it seems to have labored, as Nunes was in her personal camp forward of recapturing the bantamweight belt from Peña final yr at UFC 277.

She’s now in her second camp since leaving ATT, heading into the showdown with Aldana at UFC 289 on June 10 in Vancouver, British Columbia. And by her accounts, it’s going nicely.