UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Julianna Peña believes she exposed Amanda Nunes in the UFC 269 co-main event last month.
Delusion, no chance, underdog, zero hope, inevitable loss. What do those words and terms have in common? They’re all along the lines of how most in the MMA community described Peña’s pre-fight confidence and chances of victory on December 11.
That didn’t affect the challenger. She knew something most didn’t. Her self-belief and predictions weren’t an attempt at motivating herself for an uphill battle. They were the truth. In her mind, the performance she delivered at UFC 269 wasn’t shocking; it wasn’t the greatest upset in UFC history,;it wasn’t an underdog triumph; it was as expected.
Despite that, for most fans and pundits, Peña’s seasonal submission success against the “Lioness”, which ended Nunes’ dominant reign over the 135-pound weight class, lengthy win streak, and seven-year unbeaten run, will go down in the history books as one of the biggest shocks the Octagon has ever played host to.
Peña Doesn’t Think Nunes Underestimated Her
For many, whether fans of Nunes or adamant believers in the reigning featherweight titleholder’s superiority, the nature of the loss is up in the air. As well as claims the Brazilian quit after being taken to waters she hadn’t swum in since 2014, some have suggested the former bantamweight queen simply underestimated “The Venezuelan Vixen.”
For the new champ, the answers to that are: wrong and wrong.
Having already attempted to bust the myths surrounding her fight-winning choke, which she says was drilled in the training room prior to UFC 269, Peña has now denied the narrative that Nunes underestimated the threat she posed on December 11.
In reality, she believes the consensus female GOAT was simply exposed inside Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.
“I think Amanda was prepared for the best version of Julianna that she was gonna see. She was ready,” Peña told the New York Post. “I said six months prior to the fight exactly what I was gonna do. I exposed her and I even gave her the message prior to the fight that that’s what I was gonna do. She didn’t underestimate me at all. She trained her ass off and was adamant, in her mind, to win the fight no matter what. She just got exposed, and that’s kind of what it was.”
While the discussion around her championship-winning performance is likely to continue given the way she toppled the “Lioness” of the top step, Peña will seemingly have the chance to further legitimize her place on the bantamweight throne in an immediate rematch later this year.
After UFC President Dana White revealed the former champ would be offered a quick chance for redemption, Nunes wasted no time in accepting and promising resurrection in 2022.
Do you agree with Julianna Peña? Did she expose Amanda Nunes at UFC 269?
