Julianna Peña took a tough loss at UFC 277, dropping a heavily lopsided decision to Amanda Nunes to lose the UFC bantamweight title. Peña sensationally captured that belt with a second round submission win over Nunes last year.
Between then and now the pair coached opposite each other on The Ultimate Fighter, which succeeded in galvanizing the feud between them.
Peña was at the TUF finale this weekend, where she saw her team’s fighters run the table — clinching the trophy in both the heavyweight and flyweight tournament brackets.
At that event Peña spoke about her fight with Nunes and what positives she’s taking from it.
“When someone has entirely revamped and completely switched their entire stance, and their entire fighting style because of me, I take that as a complement, you know?” she said (ht MMA Junkie)
“And I think that if you give me time to get ready for both stances of Amanda, she doesn’t touch me next time. I’m just really hoping that she heals up and that she’s able to get back in there before the end of the year because I’ll absolutely be ready for that trilogy fight.”
“I’m ready to go Round 8 right now, like, let’s freakin’ go,” continued Peña. “I’m here, where you at Amanda? Amanda, seriously, where you at?” Peña said. “You left your girl hanging out there. I showed up for Team Peña, she didn’t show up for Team Nunes. I’m here, I’m ready to go Round 8.”
Peña is 7-3 since she joined the UFC in 2013. Her first official fight in the Octagon was a TKO over Jessica Rakoczy that earned her the TUF 18 winner’s trophy.
She earned her title shot against Nunes in 2021 off the back of a submission win over Sara McMann,
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