Amanda Nunes refused to retire with Julianna Pena as champion because ‘she is not that good’

Amanda Nunes refused to retire with Julianna Pena as champion because ‘she is not that good’

At UFC 269, Julianna Pena made history as she upset Amanda Nunes to win the UFC bantamweight title. Nunes, who had already established her legacy as the greatest women’s fighter of all time, could have made the decision to retire. Instead, she rematched Pena at UFC 277 and won her belt back in dominant fashion. At UFC 289 Media Day, Nunes explained why she opted to rematch Pena rather than retire.

“I decided to not retire, because if I retire, I leave my belt with Julianna,” Nunes said during UFC 289 media day. “No way. No way. It can be with somebody else, but with Julianna, no.”

Quote via MMAFighting

You may ask: Why not Pena? Well, as Nunes put it, she is not that good.

“She’s not that good,” Nunes said about Pena. “That was harder to swallow. She’s crazy. She goes forward and punches, and just being tough, and she has the belt. She can get hit. No. No way.

“I knew I’m going to go back there and get that belt again. The second fight, I knew I’m getting my belt back, and I did it.”

Quote via MMAFighting

Nunes has a very solid point. In comparison to other fighters that Nunes fought, Pena is not that good. In terms of skill, Pena is lacking. Yes, she is as tough as it gets and she fights at a high pace, but that’s about it.

In the rematch, Nunes exposed a ton of the flaws in Pena’s game. The fight was not close either. Nunes knocked Pena down three times en route to a unanimous decision victory that saw her win all five rounds. Needless to say, Nunes got her revenge on Pena.

Now, the counterpoint to Nunes’ claims about Pena’s skill set is that she lost the first fight. Once you lose to a fighter you get less leniency to say they are bad. Nunes chalked up that loss to the mistakes she made while adding that Pena was meant to win that day.

“I know I could kick her ass any time I want,” Nunes said. “She was supposed to win that day, I was supposed to make the mistakes that I made to fight without being in great shape, and I paid for it, and I’m never going to do that again. Ever, ever, ever.”

Quote via MMAFighting

Beneil Dariush, Charles Oliveira expect title fight after UFC 289

It is time to add Nunes to the list of the most petty UFC fighters. Nunes is definitely the first champion to keep fighting to prevent someone else from holding the belt. However, I think the petty crown still belongs with Israel Adesanya after he taunted Alex Pereira’s son in his UFC 287 post-fight celebration.

There is a strong chance that Nunes ends up fighting Pena again before her career is over. The trilogy fight between Nunes and Pena was booked for UFC 289, but Pena was forced out of the fight due to a rib injury. Nunes is now fighting Irene Aldana instead. If she defends her belt, the UFC may rebook the trilogy with Pena, giving Nunes another opportunity to prove Pena is not very good at fighting.

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