Amanda Nunes' coach understands why return not headlining UFC 324

Amanda Nunes' coach Din Thomas isn't too upset with the UFC Hall of Famer's return serving as the UFC 324 co-main event.

Nunes (23-5 MMA, 16-2 UFC) will come out of retirement to challenge bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison (19-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) on Jan. 24 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (Paramount+). Headlining the card is an interim lightweight title fight between Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett.

An interim title headlining over an undisputed title fight? It's happened before, and it's no big deal, said Thomas.

"To me, it's 1A, 1B, and I wouldn't have been surprised either way," Thomas told MMA Junkie. "In fact, the only thing that does surprise me is it was an interim belt that they were putting as a main event as opposed to this one. That is a little surprising, but Amanda's been gone a while so I get it. I understand why, but either way, it's still two great main event and co-main event, two title fights, it's still great. I'm not concerned with Amanda fighting second to last. To me, I think it's still awesome, it's still amazing."

Despite Harrison's Olympic gold medals in judo, Thomas, who has a primary role in Nunes' training camp for her first bout since June 2023, isn't viewing this as a striker vs. grappler matchup. He is confident that Nunes will be comfortable wherever the fight goes.

"I don't even really think she has an advantage on the ground," Thomas said of Harrison. "If there is an advantage, her best opportunity to win would be on the ground. I think the gap on the feet is huge compared to the gap on the ground if there is a gap on the ground.

"It's pretty common knowledge that if Kayla's going to win this fight, it's got to be the way she's beaten everybody else, and she's very good at that. She's very strong when she gets on top, and those are things we're working on now to make sure those things don't happen."

To hear more from Thomas, check out his complete appearance on "The Bohnfire" podcast with MMA Junkie senior reporter Mike Bohn above.

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Amanda Nunes' coach understands why return not headlining UFC 324