[UPDATE]
After being pushed back a month due to Nunes contracting COVID-19, Amanda Nunes’ bantamweight title defense against Julianna Peña has now been rescheduled for UFC 269 in December.
The UFC made the announcement on Monday afternoon:
Julianna Peña’s duties as a self-made investigative reporter will no longer be necessary, and she can stop digging into Nunes’ whereabouts and resume her duties as a full-time athlete in pursuit of championship gold.
There currently is no word yet on if the bout will serve as the main event. Currently, the UFC 269 card is as follows:
UFC Bantamweight Championship Bout: Amanda Nunes(c) vs. Julianna Peña
Cody Garbrandt vs. Kai Kara France
Gillian Robertson vs. Priscila Cachoeira
We’ll keep you up to date on any further updates surrounding the UFC 269 pay-per-view.
[ORIGINAL FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENT, PUBLISHED APRIL 15, 2021, 6:31 PM]
Julianna Peña’s relentless lobbying has paid off, as “The Venezuelan Vixen” will challenge “The Lioness” Amanda Nunes for the bantamweight championship this summer.
ESPN broke the news Thursday that Amanda Nunes’s first bantamweight title defense since 2019 will take place at UFC 265 when she defends the title against Julianna Peña. There is no word yet on if this will be the main event of the card.
Julianna Peña has turned in what may be the most persistent and aggressive lobbying campaign for a title shot the women’s bantamweight division has ever seen. Originally slated to fight Holly Holm in a potential title eliminator this year, Holm fell out of the bout due to kidney swelling. This left Peña free and hungry to finally share the Octagon with champion Amanda Nunes.
After Holm’s withdrawal from their scheduled bout in May, Peña made the media rounds to tell the world why she should be next to fight Nunes and why she is the worst possible matchup for the dominant champion. More importantly, she pestered Dana White on the subject to the point where she has officially broken his will, making the bossman cave despite Nunes stating that she needed another win to be in title contention.
Amanda Nunes has yet to face any real danger since winning the bantamweight title from Miesha Tate at UFC 200. She has been nothing short of dominant, turning out wins over names like Ronda Rousey, Valentina Shevchenko, Germaine de Randamie, not to mention her dominance in the featherweight division, beginning with an upset over Cris Cyborg at UFC 232. Nunes is now going to show that she is not a discriminating double champion by dropping back down to bantamweight to clean house once again. Standing in her way of doing so is the self-assured and defiant veteran by the name of Julianna Peña.
There is currently no venue or location determined for UFC 265, nor has any other bouts been announced for the card.
Do you think this is a case of “be careful what you wish for?” Or will Julianna Peña silence the critics with the upset at UFC 265?
