As Amanda Nunes and Julianna Pena are preparing for their trilogy bout at UFC 289, things are starting to get heated between the pair. Nunes and Pena are tied 1-1 from their two previous meetings and will settle things in the rubber match in Vancouver on June 10.
With the fight date recently confirmed, both female bantamweights sat down for an interview with ESPN MMA. As has been typical of her in the last two fights, Pena brought the trash talk to Nunes. The 33-year-old went after Nunes, claiming she forced the GOAT to change her style specifically to fight her.
Pena said, “I think that it’s a feather in my cap to show how afraid she is to fight me because she had to go back and revamp her entire style and I turned the ‘greatest of all time’ into a counterpunching southpaw.”
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She continued, “In the press conference after the fight, Amanda said that she could have finished me at any time that she wanted. And I thought that that was really funny… I don’t think she could have finished me at any point in time in that fight because if she could have, she would have.”
While Pena was unloading on Nunes, her words did not have the effect she hoped for. A section of fans had a different point of view which they voiced in the comments under the YouTube clip of the interview.
Fans react to Julianna Pena trash-talking Amanda Nunes
Amanda Nunes is currently the only two-division champion in the UFC. Granted the women’s featherweight division is practically non-existent, but Nunes is the dominant force at bantamweight also. ‘The Lioness’ is also a technical powerhouse that has put opponents away with ease.
Pena finished Nunes in their first fight. However, Nunes dominated her in the second one. Therefore, Pena’s claims only invited more trolling from the fans.
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Following are some of their reactions.
- “She’s scared that’s why she changed her fighting style in between our fights” No Julianna, that’s called good fight iq and game planning
- “I turned her into a panick wrestler” *gets knocked down 3 times in a single round*
- This was good. Peña sold the fight and motivated Nuñes to help sell the fight at the end.
- Pena just has to learn to not block punches with her face
- Peña is the definition of one hit wonder
- Peña getting ko’d this time
- Julianna Peña really sat there and was like “amanda must be scared because she made adjustments in a title fight rematch” as if that’s not what literally anyone does in a rematch. Can’t stand her
What did you make of Pena’s claims? Do you think she has a point? Who do you think wins the trilogy bout?
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Share your thoughts in the comments below.