UFC 289: Will Amanda Nunes announce her retirement if she beats Irene Aldana this weekend?

Amanda Nunes, just a football-mad kid at the time, was the soccer ball’s rightful owner. But when a grown man “talked shit” to her and tried to steal the ball, she beat him up.

After sweeping him to the dirt, she administered a crude version of the ground and pound she’d utilise so well in her later career in the UFC.

She took the ball home with her that day, but it wasn’t long before dreams of playing soccer for Brazil gave way to visions of fighting for a living.

That street-fight, one of many, she says, evolved into one of the greatest UFC careers ever – male or female.

But, at 35 years old, rumours about Nunes’ retirement have been circulating ahead of her title defence against Irene Aldana at UFC 289 in Vancouver this weekend.

Asked about those rumours, the current bantamweight and featherweight champion remains as elusive as her head movement and fleet footwork.

“I really don’t know. I leave that open,” she tells CODE Sports. “It’s something I have to feel. Each win tells me something and I need to feel it at the time.

“It’s something I leave open for my mind, you know. It’s life. Life is in charge.

“But one thing I know is I’m never going to lose those belts. Ever. These are Brazilian belts, my belts, and I’m going to go home from Vancouver with my two belts in my hand.”

Aside from Nunes, six other women have held either the bantamweight or featherweight world titles.

The Brazilian has beaten them all. Sometimes twice. Sometimes within a minute.

Miesha Tate didn’t last a round and arrived to the post-fight press conference with a towel covering her broken nose.

Ronda Rousey lasted just 48 seconds and didn’t bother showing up to the presser at all.

The fearsome Cris Cyborg lasted two seconds longer than Rousey, while Holly Holm lasted four minutes before being felled by a vicious head-kick.

Germaine de Randamie tried twice and failed twice. So did flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko.

So what does she have left to prove? Why is she still fighting?

“It’s the competition,” she says. “The whole process of stepping into the cage is what I love to do. This is what I love to feel – the adrenaline. This is what I love about the whole thing.”

One thing she does know for sure is that she isn’t interested in a third fight with Julianna Pena.

In December 2021, Pena caused one of the biggest upsets in the sport’s history by beating Nunes and claiming the 135-pound belt.

It was a bigger upset than Holm’s win over Rousey six years earlier, but Nunes wasted little time righting that wrong.

In July 2022, she scored one of the most dominant unanimous decision wins you’ll ever see in a title fight, winning every round on every single scorecard, including three 10-8 rounds.

“I made it clear that it was a mistake I made in the first fight, and I paid for it,” she said.

“But in the second fight, I made it clear. I’m better, go away. I took my belt back and that’s it.”

So, if a third Pena showdown isn’t on the cards, and there are no other obvious contenders, wouldn’t a knockout win over Aldana be the perfect way to bow out?

Again, two steps ahead, no dice.

Instead, she speaks about her other sporting love, the one that started this crazy journey in the first place: football.

Still an avid fan, Nunes will be watching closely when the Women’s World Cup kicks off in July.

“How cool, man, I would love to come and watch,” the Florida-based Nunes says. “In Brazil it’s everywhere you go, and on every corner you see people playing soccer and I grew up with it, playing and watching it.

“Brazil and USA are my two favourite teams. I’d be very happy to see them both in the final.”