The Women of UFC 277
The UFC is heading to the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas this Saturday for a highly anticipated rematch between the #2 ranked pound for pound, former double champion Amanda Nunes and Julianna Pena, the current champion of the bantamweight division.
I think we all remember where we were and the way we felt whenever Julianna Pena pulled off one of the biggest upsets that the sport has ever seen at UFC 269, closing as a +650 underdog and defeating Nunes via rear-naked choke in the second round of their first meeting.
The Backstory:
Amanda Nunes caught everyone’s attention when she arrived to the UFC in 2013 by securing back to back first round technical knockout finishes within three months of one another. Nunes endured her first loss in the UFC almost a year later (September 27th, 2014) against Cat Zingano but showed that she could not be counted out just yet as she then went on to win three fights in a row following the TKO loss to Zingano. The three wins secured her a title shot against bantamweight champion Miesha Tate at UFC 200, where Amanda defeated Tate and became the first Brazilian women’s UFC champion. Nunes defended her belt 3 times at 135lbs and then went up to 145lbs to challenge Cris Cyborg at UFC 232. Amanda beat the fellow legend via KO in the first minute of the round… and the rest is literally history, as she not only held the title of the first women’s Brazilian champ but also the first ever woman to become a two division champion.
Julianna Pena may have the energy of a hungry tiger that is new to the game but she is an OG in her own right having made her amateur debut in 2009, the same year that Strikeforce became the first mainstream mma promotion to have two women in a featured main event. Pena was the winner of the 18th season of The Ultimate Fighter (team Tate vs. team Rousey), the first season to feature two women as the coaches. Pena won the following three fights she had in the promotion with the third fight being a win over Cat Zingano, the only woman to have beaten Nunes in the UFC at the time. After her fight with Zingano she lost to who is now the #1 pfp woman on the roster, Valentina Schevchenko. Julianna gave birth to her baby in January of 2018 but came back a little over a year later (July 13th, 2019) and beat Nicco Montano via decision. In January of 2021 following a loss against former champion and veteran Germaine De Randamie, Julianna Pena beat olympic silver medalist Sara Mcmann and called for Nunes in her post-fight interview claiming that Nunes avoided the fight with her and took the fight with Rousey instead and had since continued to avoid the fight.
In April of 2021, the UFC announced that Nunes would defend her 135lb belt against Pena who was the number 6 contender at the time – although the fight would ultimately be rebooked due to Nunes testing positive for COVID-19. Their first meeting came to fruition at UFC 269 on December 11th, 2021, roughly 4 months after the initial bout was scheduled to take place.
The Breakdown:
In round one, the lioness immediately takes the center of the octagon although Pena was clearly not hesitant to walk forward and engage in a calculated manner. Amanda lands a calf kick thirty seconds into the round and drops Pena. Pena did not stay down long but as soon as she was up again, Nunes continued cracking that calf with kicks. It was a fairly dominant round for the champ as she scored a 10-9 across all of three of the judges’ scorecards.
Round two was a different story. Amanda Nunes was on a 12 fight tear in both divisions & for the first time since 2014.. We saw the dominant champion look human. Pena found her range and continuously popped Nunes with her left jab. A grappling exchange is initiated by Pena and a tired Nunes is pinned against the fence. Pena then gets wrist control, continues to hit Nunes with her left hand and secures a takedown with 1 minute & 45 seconds left in the round. At this point, the crowd and the commentary team is going wild. The underdog gets the back of the champion, grabs the neck and secures a rear-naked choke with 34 seconds left in the round.
And just like that, Julianna Pena became the new bantamweight champion. Julianna quoted the legend Nate Diaz in her post fight speech with Joe Rogan & said “I’m not surprised motherf*ckers!” & yes… we all had chills.
The two met again when they coached the latest season of The Ultimate Fighter. There wasn’t much trash talk but the champion Julianna Pena is clearly confident in her skills and the ability to beat Nunes once again although she continues to be an underdog the second time around. With Nunes securing 14 of her 21 wins via KO/TKO, she is known for her strength and ability to find the shots that are guaranteed to put her opponents to sleep. Amanda is also no beginner when it comes to her ground game as she is a black belt in BJJ and a brown belt in judo, with four submission wins on her record. Pena started her mixed martial arts journey by taking a kickboxing class but she is known for her ability to wear her opponents down, secure the takedown and either dominate via ground and pound or find the position to secure a submission win. Amanda mentioned in an interview with ESPN MMA’s Marc Raimondi this week that she went into the first Pena fight camp with injuries on both of her knees & it caused her to train only her upper body which I believe could have also possibly forced her to neglect her cardio in an attempt to allow her knees to heal. This sport is beautiful and brutal for that exact reason, it has to be one person’s night.. It cannot be both of you. Unless you’re in one of those Khamzat Chimaev vs Gilbert Burns, Joanna Jędrzejczyk vs Weili Zhang type of fights.
I assume that Pena will come out with more confidence in the first round as she knows her jab can touch Nunes and I believe she will work on finding her range right away to quickly begin working to tire Nunes. I trust that Nunes did have an injury going into the first fight and I don’t doubt it affected her game plan but if Pena can implement the strategy she used in round 2 of the first fight by making Nunes walk backward and use her energy to fight more defensively than offensively then she can secure her first title defense and defeat Nunes for the second time. Ultimately, this rematch is about who can implement their game plan first. Both fighters are well experienced, one is hungry to remain the champ after years of calling for it and the other is motivated to get back what was once hers. My official pick for Pena vs Nunes 2 is Pena via unanimous decision. I believe Nunes will be harder to finish this time around but that Pena will use her forward pressure, the clinch and her jab to pick Nunes apart and have her fighting a less technical, calculated fight and more of a reactive fight. Amanda can put anyone to sleep and compete with most on the ground but the mindset of Julianna and her ability to wear on her opponents whenever she sticks to her gameplan is what I believe will get her the win on Saturday night. May the best woman win, enjoy the PPV fight fam!
Prediction:
Julianna Pena via Unanimous Decision
(Please note: This prediction is not associated with the MMAPlay365 packages, subscriptions or services)