Amanda Nunes retires after routing Irene Aldana at UFC 289 - ESPN

Amanda Nunes laid her two UFC championship belts on the Octagon mat and had the cutman remove her gloves. She put the gloves in the middle of the two titles, kneeled down and cried into the canvas.

On Saturday, after one of her most dominant performances in years, the greatest women's fighter of all time announced her retirement at UFC 289 on Saturday in Vancouver.

«Double champion forever,» Nunes said. «This is the perfect night to retire.»

Nunes beat Irene Aldana via unanimous decision (50-43, 50-44, 50-44) in the main event of the pay-per-view card, a comprehensive performance that saw Nunes win just about every minute. With the win, Nunes defended her UFC women's bantamweight title. She is also the UFC women's featherweight champion. And apparently she will vacate both belts in retirement.

Aldana was a fill-in opponent. Former champion Julianna Peña was supposed to have a trilogy fight against Nunes on Saturday, but broke her ribs and was forced to withdraw.

Nunes is ESPN's top pound-for-pound women's fighter. ESPN had Aldana ranked No. 6 in the world at women's bantamweight coming in. Nunes is one of only four fighters in UFC history to hold two divisional title simultaneously — and one of the best to ever compete in the Octagon, man or woman.

Nunes (23-5) regained the title in her previous fight, a unanimous decision win over Peña at UFC 277 last July. Peña ended Nunes' UFC women's record 12-fight winning streak and title reign at UFC 269 in December 2021.

Nunes, 35, has the most UFC title fight wins among women in history (11) and the most finishes in UFC women's history (10). The Brazilian-born fighter who trains out of Florida has beaten every other fighter who has held the UFC women's featherweight and