Despite suffering a unanimous decision loss to former two-weight UFC champion, Amanda Nunes back in July of last year in the pair’s championship rematch, former bantamweight titleholder, Julianna Peña has claimed that her unsuccessful re-run wasn’t particularly one-sided as its made out to be.
Peña, the current number one ranked bantamweight contender and former undisputed division champion, has been sidelined since headlining UFC 277 back in July of last year, suffering a unanimous decision (50-45, 50-44- 50-43) loss to the former two-division gold holder.
Julianna Peña claims Amanda Nunes took the easy way out with retirement
Suffering multiple knockdowns and lacerations in her title defense rematch with Nunes, Peña, who recently went on a tirade against the Brazilian following her retirement from mixed martial arts back in June, claimed their rematch last year wasn’t as one-sided as it appeared.
“I’ll always want to fight her (Amanda Nunes) if she decides to return, absolutely,” Julianna Peña told ESPN during a recent interview. “There’s fights that are on my bucket list of things that I want to get back, things that I want to do, and she’s absolutely one of them. I definitely think she knows that because all they’re looking at is probably highlights.”
“What I would encourage fans to do is go back and watch that fight and actually take into account, without the commentary or anything, just watch the fight,” Julianna Peña explained. “You’ll see that it was a lot closer than people want to give me credit for. They see the drops, they see me getting knocked down and yeah, it absolutely happened. But I let her take the time to go make those adjustments and revamp her entire style. I felt like it was kind of a snub for her to not let me have the same opportunity.”