# Norma Dumont Walks Away: Ranked No. 4, Two Fights Left, and Done Waiting Source: SportsBriefly (https://sportsbriefly.com) Canonical URL: https://sportsbriefly.com/en/mma/norma-dumont-walks-away-ranked-no-4-two-fights-left-and-done-waiting-2026-11-11 Language: en Published: 2026-11-11T15:03:25.633+00:00 Updated: 2026-11-11T15:03:25.683861+00:00 > Norma Dumont, ranked No. 4 at bantamweight, asked for and was granted her UFC release with two fights left on her deal. ## TL;DR - Norma Dumont, ranked No. 4 at bantamweight, asked for and was granted her UFC release with two fights left on her deal. - Dumont leaves the UFC with a 9-4 promotional record across 13 fights after a six-fight win streak into 2026. - Back-to-back decision losses to Joselyne Edwards and Ailin Perez in 2026 ended her title hopes. - She had been told the UFC would likely not renew her contract once her remaining fights were done. - Dumont is leaning toward a boxing debut in 2027 and plans to start a family with partner Marco Tulio. ## Key points - Norma Dumont, ranked No. 4 at bantamweight, asked for and was granted her UFC release with two fights left on her deal. - Dumont leaves the UFC with a 9-4 promotional record across 13 fights after a six-fight win streak into 2026. - Back-to-back decision losses to Joselyne Edwards and Ailin Perez in 2026 ended her title hopes. - She had been told the UFC would likely not renew her contract once her remaining fights were done. - Dumont is leaning toward a boxing debut in 2027 and plans to start a family with partner Marco Tulio. ## A top-five contender walks away on her own terms The UFC women's bantamweight division lost one of its most durable contenders on Tuesday, and it was Norma Dumont herself who delivered the news. The 36-year-old Brazilian, ranked No. 4 in the division, announced on social media that she had asked for her release — and that the UFC had granted it — with two fights still remaining on her contract. It was a calm ending to a six-year run, announced not with anger but with arithmetic: Dumont had been told the UFC was unlikely to renew her deal, and she decided not to wait for a verdict she could already see coming. "I still had two fights left on my contract with the organization," Dumont said in a video statement, translated from Portuguese, "but even before my last fight, when I still had three fights remaining, I already had information that the UFC probably wouldn't renew my contract once those fights were over." Rather than fight out a contract that led nowhere, she asked to leave now, on her own terms. ## The announcement, in her own words Dumont's statement was grateful rather than bitter. "Well, I'm here to announce my departure from the UFC organization," she said. "I am incredibly grateful for all these years. It was a wonderful experience." She explained that the decision had been discussed with her team over the past month, and that personal plans had weighed heavily on it. She and her partner, UFC middleweight Marco Tulio, have agreed that she will retire by the end of next year, or perhaps even sooner, because they want to start a family. She also revealed that she has already been approached by a major boxing promoter and that another MMA organisation has offered her a title fight. The details of both remain confidential, and nothing has been signed, but the direction of travel is clear: she is leaning toward boxing, and she believes fans will see her box next year. ## A six-year climb built on decisions Dumont joined the UFC in February 2020 with a perfect 4-0 record from the Brazilian regional scene, and her debut could hardly have gone worse: Megan Anderson knocked her out in the first round. What followed was a study in persistence. Dumont rebuilt herself fight by fight, and by the start of 2026 she carried a six-fight winning streak into the year — the longest run of her career. She leaves the UFC with a 9-4 promotional record across 13 fights, and a 13-4 record overall. Eleven of her 13 career wins came by decision, with two by submission and none by knockout. That technical, grinding style — built on Sanda and Brazilian jiu-jitsu — rarely produced highlight-reel finishes, and Dumont has been open about the fact that it shaped how the promotion viewed her. Yet the wins were substantial: she beat former featherweight champion Germaine de Randamie in April 2024, outpointed Irene Aldana at UFC 306, and edged Ketlen Vieira by split decision in November 2025. ![Kayla Harrison after her UFC 316 victory, alternate angle](https://api.sportsbriefly.com/storage/v1/object/public/media/api/1794409381564-xl1gc0-mma-inside1-2026-11-11-evening.jpg) ## The two losses that changed the maths The momentum stalled in 2026. In April, Dumont lost a unanimous decision to Joselyne Edwards. Then, on September 26, she lost another unanimous decision to Ailin Perez at UFC Fight Night 289 in Las Vegas — a bad-blooded affair in which security intervened after a confrontation between the two fighters. Neither defeat was a blowout, and neither suggested Dumont could no longer compete at ranked level. But together they changed the calculation. With two fights left and no renewal coming, the path back to a title shot — the thing she had spent six years chasing — had effectively closed. Edwards, notably, is now in New York as the official backup fighter for Saturday's bantamweight title fight. Dumont looked at the same picture and chose a different exit. ## Boxing, family and what comes next "I have to admit that I'm leaning a little more toward boxing," Dumont said, and the logic is easy to follow. She has always wanted a boxing match, she has a promoter already in conversation with her, and a fresh challenge offers something the final two fights of her UFC deal could not: a future she can still shape. She expects to resume competition in 2027. ![Madison Square Garden after its 1991 renovation](https://api.sportsbriefly.com/storage/v1/object/public/media/api/1794409400641-42jq0u-mma-inside2-2026-11-11-evening.jpg) Walking away now, rather than spending another year fighting out a contract with no renewal at the end of it, also gives her control over her timetable for starting a family with Tulio. It is a decision that looks, from the outside, less like a surrender than a negotiation with herself — and one she appears to have won. ## A division suddenly thinner at the top Dumont's departure lands in a week when the bantamweight division is supposed to be celebrating. On Saturday at UFC 334, champion Kayla Harrison defends her title against Amanda Nunes at Madison Square Garden, in one of the biggest fights in women's MMA history. Nunes is ending a retirement of nearly three years to try to reclaim the belt, while Harrison, 19-1 overall and 3-0 in the UFC, is making her first defence after neck surgery forced her out of their originally scheduled meeting in January. Yet behind that marquee pairing, the division looks thin. Dumont is not the first ranked bantamweight to leave the UFC this year: the promotion also parted ways with her former opponent Ketlen Vieira in May, even after Vieira had won her most recent fight. She leaves ranked No. 4, with a winning UFC record and two fights unfulfilled. She simply decided that being good enough was no longer enough. Mentions: Norma Dumont, UFC, Kayla Harrison, Amanda Nunes, Ailin Perez, Joselyne Edwards, Ketlen Vieira, Germaine de Randamie, Irene Aldana, Marco Tulio, Megan Anderson, Madison Square Garden, Las Vegas ## Sources - [mmamania.com](https://www.mmamania.com/ufc-roster-watch-cuts-tracker-free-agent-aquisitions-mma/485417/goodbye-bantamweight-ufc-abruptly-releases-top-five-ranked-contender) - [cagesidepress.com](https://cagesidepress.com/2026/11/10/norma-dumont-granted-release-from-ufc/) - [si.com](https://www.si.com/fannation/mma/news/ufc-shockingly-releases-top-ranked-fighter-13-fight-ufc-run) - [en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norma_Dumont)