Julianna Peña claims that the UFC had to force Amanda Nunes into their third fight, the main event trilogy bout that is set to take place on June 10 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Former UFC champion Julianna Peña recently revealed that the UFC had to force Amanda Nunes into fighting her for a third time. The two are set for a trilogy bout in the upcoming UFC 289 main event, which will take place on June 10 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver.
Peña shared that the UFC “brass” told her that Nunes did not want to fight her, but that she wouldn’t back down. “I think the UFC knows that. I think the UFC knows that they know how to do business, they know how to do big business and make big fights. It’s the only fight that I called for. And I said, ‘You know what, if you don’t want to fight me, Amanda, which the brass told me directly, she does not want to fight me.’”
Nunes is the most decorated women’s champion in UFC history, having defeated the likes of Cris Cyborg, Ronda Rousey, Holly Holm, and Meisha Tate en route to becoming a two-division champion. Peña shocked the world when she upset Nunes via a second-round rear-naked choke submission at UFC 269 in December 2021, catapulting Peña to an escalated level of stardom.
Having won 12 consecutive bouts prior to the upset, Nunes was granted an immediate rematch, which she won with a resounding unanimous decision victory at UFC 277 in July 2022. However, Peña insisted on a rubber match against Nunes, declining a fight with Irene Aldana and forcing the UFC and Nunes into the trilogy. “They said that if she didn’t fight against me that she would be stripped. And so, she had no choice but to fight me. She doesn’t want to fight me. They told me she doesn’t want to fight me. And she’s being forced to fight me because this is the only fight that makes sense.”
Regardless of how it came about, the highly anticipated UFC 289 main event bout between Amanda Nunes and Julianna Peña is set to be the biggest women’s MMA fight in history. Fans are eager to see who will come out on top in this historic trilogy match.