Julianna Pena Calls For Interim Title Fight If Amanda Nunes Matchup Doesn’t Happen By December
UFC women’s bantamweight contender Julianna Pena doesn’t want to wait around for her title shot against two-division champion Amanda Nunes.
Pena spoke with reporters backstage during UFC 265 this past Saturday night and talked about her frustrations with Nunes’ lack of urgency to rebook their title bout for the Brazillian dual-champions 135-pound crown. The pair was expected to co-headline the UFC’s latest outing in Houston, Texas this weekend but the fight fell through after Nunes tested positive for COVID-19. Pena believes that if Nunes isn’t ready to defend her bantamweight title by year’s end that the promotion should move on to making an interim-title bout with herself and another opponent instead.
“I heard from a teammate of hers that she hasn’t even been training,” Pena said (h/t MMAJunkie). “Even when she was healthy and is healthy, she has barely been in the gym. So that part is frustrating for me because I have been making this fight my top priority, and I have been doing the mom thing, as well. You know, I do want to take this time to say that I understand her position. She is a new mother. She wants to enjoy that time with her baby, and she lacks a little bit of motivation to get up for a fight when she wants to hang out with her little newborn. I get that. I was in that same position. But if you’re not going to fight in December, it will be two years since she has defended the belt at 135 pounds. We’ve got to keep the train moving. Let’s get a girl in there that’s ready to rock, and we’ll fight for the interim belt, and when she’s ready to come back, she can come pry it out of my cold, dead fingers.”
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