Julianna Pena shocked the world when she defeated Amanda Nunes to win the UFC women’s bantamweight title.
The two fighters met in a bout on Saturday night (December 11, 2021) at the UFC 269 pay-per-view event from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In the first round, Nunes dropped her twice - once with a leg kick then a jab. Pena tried to go for a takedown, but that didn’t work. Nunes got a takedown and even had her back at one point. Pena had her in a kimura for a bit, but the round ended. In the second round, Pena came out swinging and they had an unbelievable exchange for a few minutes. Nunes got tired. Pena clinched with her up against the fence before taking her down and locking in the rear-naked choke for the win.
Peep the highlights of the fight courtesy of the UFC’s official Twitter account:
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In her previous fight, Nunes retained the featherweight strap over Megan Anderson by first-round submission at UFC 259. Before that, she retained the bantamweight strap over Felicia Spencer at the UFC 250 pay-per-view event got a decision victory over Germaine de Randamie at UFC 245 by decision and another impressive victory at the expense of former champ Holly Holm at the UFC 239 pay-per-view event. Nunes knocked out Cris Cyborg in the first round in the co-headliner of UFC 232 to win the UFC women’s featherweight title on December 29, 2018, at The Forum in Inglewood, California. With that win, Nunes became a two-division champion as she’s the champ of the women’s bantamweight and featherweight divisions.
Pena entered this fight with a 10-4 pro-MMA record and had gone 2-2 in her last four fights to get here. She lost to Valentina Shevchenko by submission in January 2017 before getting a decision win over Nicco Montaño, but dropped a loss to Germaine de Randamie by decision in October 2020. She rebounded with a submission win over Sara McMann.
Let’s see how the fighters reacted to the outcome of this fight:
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MMA News is providing ongoing coverage of UFC 269. We’ve got you covered with live results, video highlights, and post-fight tidbits.