Amanda Nunes will defend her featherweight title at UFC 259 on Saturday, marking her first competition since she and her wife Nina Ansaroff — a UFC strawweight — gave birth to their daughter, Raegan Ann Nunes, on Sept. 24, 2020.
Nunes, who is also the bantamweight champ and considered the women’s MMA GOAT, will face Megan Anderson in Las Vegas.
Nunes revealed how motherhood has affected her outlook on life, as well as her approach to fighting.
Editor’s note: Some content has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Sometimes it doesn’t even seem like we have a child at home. She is very calm, a very loving child.
I say that Raegan is my little partner. She goes to the gym with me, does everything. She has her routine, baby bottle before bed and everything else. So that makes it a lot easier for us.
When I’m not training, I stay with her, and Nina goes to train. When I’m training, it’s Nina who stays with Raegan. Then we manage to maintain a very calm routine. Raegan helps a lot, she is a good girl, a good child.
We had no problem. I had a perfect camp, and I am prepared for the fight. What she really brought to us was a lot of love and happiness. I am happier than before.
Staying motivated when you’re the GOAT
I’m always trying to be improving, evolving along with the sport. If you do not evolve with the sport, you will be left behind. MMA is the fastest growing sport in the world. Whenever I’m training, I’m looking to improve on something. If I already have something good, I’ll try to improve even more. I think this is the reason why all this happened in my career, I’m always looking for the best.
I have the ground game that is already good, but I try to improve it even more. I’m always motivated. I’m the type of person who was born to do this, so I don’t see why I can’t be motivated. It’s my job.
When I think about my life, I think about MMA. I am an athlete who sleeps thinking about what I do. I wake up already thinking about the next opponent. I fall asleep cleaning my training equipment for the next day. My life is all there.
I always try to remember the life I had in the past and think about the life I have today. There is no way that this does not motivate me. I want to continue living this life for many years. As long as God wants. Every moment has something more.
It was UFC 200 when I became champion, then came my first defense against Ronda Rousey, which was also great. Then the fight against Cyborg, which was bombastic. Motivation on top of motivation. My simultaneous defense of two belts came. It keeps motivating me more and more to make history. I get this taste of making history in my life all the time. I want to be outdoing myself every day, doing things that no one has ever done in this sport.
Moments, memories and legacy
Now came my daughter, who is already a total motivation for me to have these memories with her. I want to arrive on her 1st birthday and show her that “Oh, mommy today doesn’t fight anymore, but you were with me, when you were still in mom’s belly and when you were already in mommy’s arms.” These are things that I want to be marked. This is more personal than anything.
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Amanda Nunes is banking on her experience with taller fighters as she’s set to defend her featherweight title against Megan Anderson at UFC 259.
I’m already very proud of what I did in the sport. It is very gratifying, I just thank life for having this opportunity. But right now, from now on in my career it will be only for the moments. Moments with my family, with my daughter, moments to be marked with her.
This moment also serves for me to be able to leave a message for people too. Everyone can have a family. It could be woman with a woman, a man with a man, whatever the f—. Sorry for the F-word, but I want to show it. I want to go up to the cage with my daughter and my wife and show everyone that it’s normal right now.
I’m a champion. I’m the best ever, and I have a family. I’m gay. I have a family, I can give love to my daughter, give affection, a better life. Putting in people’s heads that we have to stop all that is happening in the world today and give more love to people. I want to show that from now on it will be this.
Live on memories, live to help people understand the importance of living. Doing good, showing people that love is the most important thing. At this point in my life, I feel the need to share that.