Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Julianna Pena campaigned for months for a trilogy fight with Amanda Nunes after losing her belt to the 35-year-old Brazilian in July of last year — a request the UFC granted in April.
So, Pena’s rage toward Nunes is a bit understandable after the champion retired following her UFC 289 win over Irena Aldana on Saturday, eliminating any possibility of a trilogy fight between the two.
“At the end of the day, Amanda didn’t want the fight,” Pena told Ariel Helwani Monday on “The MMA Hour.” “The whole time the UFC tried [to ask] her to make the trilogy, she didn’t want to make it, and they made that clear to me. They said, ‘She doesn’t want to fight you.’ That’s why it took so long to book the trilogy, and when I fell out because of injury, she said it was ‘less heavy’ for her. It’s less heavy for her because she knows what’s at risk.”
Pena was originally scheduled for Saturday’s card in Vancouver before withdrawing from the bout in March after suffering some broken ribs during training. She assumed if Nunes got past Aldana that she would get another shot at her sometime later this year.
The 33-year-old Pena beat Nunes for the UFC women’s bantamweight title by second-round submission at UFC 269 in Dec. 2021. The loss snapped Nunes’ 12-fight win streak and it was just the second time in her 27-fight mixed martial arts career she had been submitted.
Julianna Peña: As far as I'm concerned I still have a win over her. If we're in the streets, she's dead. You know, she already died.#TheMMAHour pic.twitter.com/ijwlSk1adk
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) June 12, 2023
Nunes got an immediate rematch at UFC 277 last July and won her belt back via unanimous decision. The UFC pushed for a third fight to settle the score — a fight Nunes was not receptive to and one Pena believes she wanted desperately to avoid.
“Hopefully she comes back,” Pena continued. “That would be best-case scenario so we can squash this thing and finish this trilogy. It was literally going to be the greatest trilogy in women’s MMA. It’s never happened before, and she lost that opportunity to make it happen. I lost that opportunity because I got injured, she (gave up) that opportunity because she wants to retire early. I say she took the coward’s way out, and that’s all there is to it.”
Pena is the No. 1-ranked fighter in the UFC women’s bantamweight division. A potential fight between her and No. 2-ranked Raquel Pennington is reportedly in the works to crown a new champion.
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