Here's the match video of Amanda Nunes defending her UFC Bantamweight Championship against Irene Aldana from last night's UFC show in Vancouver. Julianna Pena was supposed to be Amanda's original opponent but she broke a rib in training. Irene was supposed to fight Raquel Pennington a couple of weeks ago. I guess the UFC flipped a coin and gave Irene the title shot. Of course she would be a big underdog in this fight. Though some fans liked the notion of Irene winning the title, I didn't think there was any way she could win. Of course this was influenced by Irene's teammate Alexa Grasso upsetting Valentino Shevchenko for the Flyweight Championship recently. But Irene isn't as good as Alexa. Obviously some are going to bet on Irene and cross their fingers. The fight went pretty much as expected. Amanda didn't get a finish but she dominated for five rounds and won by unanimous decision. She was like a cat playing with her food. Wishful thinking doesn't always work out. Irene was awful. She took a defensive posture and never got going. Her coach Francisco Grasso told her what to do. But I guess she wanted to survive five rounds. Afterwards, Amanda announced her retirement. She said she wouldn't have retired if Julianna had been the opponent. She wanted to fight someone new. She said her mother has been after her to retire for a while. Amanda and Nina already have a daughter and they are having another one. She made her money and retired a double champ. You can't ask for more than that. Enjoy the video!
Smart move on her part to retire and leave before she sustains a really serious injury that could seriously impact her health for the rest of her life. And she went out on top of her game. I wish good luck on raising her family and her career. David.
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