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Chael Sonnen has weighed in on Amanda Nunes’ departure from ATT (American Top Team). 'The Bad Guy' believes Nunes leaving ATT and starting her own gym is seemingly due to personal rather than business reasons.
In an edition of Beyond the Fight, Sonnen suggested that when a fighter leaves their gym to join a new gym or start their own gym, it generally doesn’t work out well for their career. He opined that while there are exceptions, the athlete’s performances are adversely affected by them leaving the gym that made them a top-tier fighter.
Sonnen noted that he hopes Nunes’ decision isn’t due to her blaming her team at ATT for her recent loss against Julianna Pena. He insinuated that 'The Lioness' didn’t necessarily have to leave ATT, adding that a minor adjustment could help her beat Pena in their rematch.
Sonnen stated:
“Whatever Amanda is going to bring in – and I’m talking about gross [revenues] – whatever she’s going to bring in over the life of that [new] gym will not be what she makes if she just did one more fight. So, business-wise, this is a peculiar situation, which leads me to believe that this is personal; that she feels something happened or she was neglected."
'The Bad Guy' added that Nunes' loss to Pena was more mental than physical.
"Now, she would have a very wrong impression going into that fight. Amanda needs to know one thing and one thing only when she goes into the rematch with Julianna – Julianna is a harder fight than she thought Julianna was going to be. That is the only mental hurdle that she needs to get around. The physicality, again, only one round was completed; Amanda won the round.”
Watch Chael Sonnen address Amanda Nunes leaving ATT in the video below:
Dana White believes the Amanda Nunes vs. Julianna Pena rematch will be the biggest women’s MMA fight ever
Amanda Nunes lost her UFC women’s bantamweight title to Julianna Pena via second round submission at UFC 269 in December 2021. ‘The Lioness’ still holds the UFC women’s featherweight title.
Nevertheless, the consensus is that her next bout will be a rematch against Pena for the bantamweight belt later this year.
Speaking to ESPN MMA, UFC president Dana White asserted that their rematch will be the biggest women’s MMA fight of all time, eclipsing the iconic UFC 193 fight between Ronda Rousey and Holly Holm.
White said:
"The Pena rematch with Nunes will probably be the biggest women's [MMA] fight of all time. That rematch would be the biggest women's match of all time... Ronda Rousey and Holly [Holm] is the one right now. [Pena vs. Nunes] in every way will possibly beat it."
