It didn’t take long for Julianna Pena to comment on the retirement of Amanda Nunes.
‘The Lioness’ headlined Saturday’s UFC 289 pay-per-view in the Great White North, handily defeating bantamweight title challenger Irene Aldana over the course of 25 minutes. Following the matchup, Nunes laid down her two world title belts alongside her gloves and announced that she is officially retiring from mixed martial arts. Her announcement immediately got the attention of two-time Nunes opponent, Julianna Pena.
The ‘Venezuelan Vixen’ was originally tipped to be Nunes’ challenger at UFC 289, but an injury sustained while training forced her to withdraw. Upon realizing that she will never get the chance to complete her trilogy with Nunes, Pena took to Twitter and suggested that Nunes was running off into the sunset before having to step inside the Octagon with her one more time.
“I scared you so bad into retirement,” Pena tweeted. “Personally, Congratulations. Professionally, wtf was that? #UFC289”
Is Julianna Pena vs. Raquel Pennington the Fight to Make?
Amanda Nunes ends her illustrious career going 16-2 inside the Octagon, her only losses coming against Cat Zingano in 2014 and the aforementioned Julianna Pena at UFC 269 in January 2021. Seven months later, ‘The Lioness’ reclaimed her bantamweight title from Pena, setting the stage for a trilogy bout that will never come to fruition.
With the women’s bantamweight world title now vacated, it opens the door for Julianna Pena to slide right in and challenge for the title against a new opponent. Who that will be is yet to be determined, but the likeliest scenario would see Raquel Pennington step in to fight for the vacant championship. Pennington served as the official backup for UFC 289’s main event between Nunes and Aldana.