Former women’s bantamweight champion Julianna Peña maintains that Amanda Nunes only retired to avoid their trilogy fight.
It’s been three and a half years since Peña shared the Octagon with someone other than Nunes. After dethroning the “Lioness” in shocking fashion at UFC 269 in December 2022, “The Venezuelan Vixen” surrendered the gold back to the Brazilian seven months later.
The pair were then expected to collide in a trilogy bout at UFC 289 in Vancouver, Canada, last June. Weeks out from the event, however, Peña withdrew after sustaining an injury.
In her place, Irene Aldana challenged for gold and was soundly beaten across five rounds by Nunes, who subsequently laid down her two championship belts inside the Octagon and announced her retirement.
As the legend gave an emotional speech, Peña didn’t hesitate to let her disdain be known from cageside, booing and heckling her longtime rival.
While those actions drew plenty of criticism online, the former champ insists she’s been proven right when it comes to her decision to boo Nunes’ retirement at UFC 289…
Peña Plans To Resume Nunes Callouts After Regaining The Title
During an interview with ESPN MMA while the red carpet for Thursday’s UFC Hall of Fame Ceremony, Peña spoke about the possibility of running it back with Nunes now that the former two-division queen appears to be on the cusp of a comeback.
Talk of the Brazilian returning picked up when she expressed surprise at debutant Kayla Harrison not calling her out at UFC 300. After seeing that, “The Venezuelan Vixen” believes her decision to heckle Nunes’ retirement was vindicated.
“If you recall, when I was cageside for that fight I was supposed to fight (at UFC 289), I was booing pretty heavily, and it was because I thought that she was retiring prematurely,” Peña said. “Then when I saw Kayla Harrison win and she didn’t call out Amanda and Amanda made a big stink about it, I thought, ‘Yeah, why would you make a big stink? Because you know that you’re not ready to retire.’
I was absolutely right to be booing because it was premature and she just didn’t want a third fight with me,” Peña continued. “Maybe that will eventually happen. I’ll definitely be calling for it after my fight with Raquel.”
I scared you so bad into retirement. Personally, Congratulations. Professionally, wtf was that? #UFC289
— Julianna Peña (@VenezuelanVixen) June 11, 2023
Before redirecting her focus back to Nunes, Peña’s immediate attention will need to be on fellow former TUF contestant Raquel Pennington, who became champion this past January with a victory over Mayra Bueno Silva.
While their expected title fight hasn’t been officially announced, “Rocky” said during her own red carpet interviews that her first defense is being targeted for the potential October pay-per-view event in Salt Lake City.
