UFC president Dana White has high expectations for the rematch between Julianna Peña and Amanda Nunes.
Peña dethroned Nunes at UFC 269 earlier this month via second-round rear-naked choke in what is widely considered one of the greatest upsets in UFC history. The performance from Nunes was in stark contrast to her other appearances in the Octagon, the bulk of which accounted for her remarkable five-year reign over two divisions. The ‘Lioness’ alluded to something being wrong with her body during her post-fight interview with UFC color commentator Joe Rogan, and White confirmed that was indeed the case that night.
White told Brett Okamoto of ESPN that before Nunes returns, she plans on speaking with doctors to find out the source of her apparent ailment.
“I talked to her that night,” said White. “She said she can’t explain it, that her body locked up on her and she couldn’t do anything that night. Her body locked up, and she doesn’t really understand what happened, but she wants to find out. She’s gonna dive in and talk to some doctors, some performance doctors or whatever and figure out what happened to her.”
White also confirmed the promotion’s intention to schedule an immediate rematch with Peña and Nunes sometime next year. Both fighters have expressed interest in it, and with how much buzz their first meeting generated, White expects their second meeting to be even bigger.
In fact, he believes it could oust the current consensus biggest women’s fight of all time, Ronda Rousey versus Holly Holm. That fight also ended in a great upset, with Holm delivering and knocking out Rousey with a brutal head kick at UFC 193 over six years ago.
“The Peña rematch with Nunes will probably be the biggest women’s fight of all time,” said White. “That rematch will be the biggest women’s rematch of all time. [Right now] it’s Ronda Rousey and Holly. Every way that it could possibly beat it, it will. I don’t think it, I know it. It will crush that fight.”
Details still need to be ironed out for Peña vs. Nunes II, but the newly crowned champion has mentioned that she would be ready to go again in a couple of months.
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