UFC 257: Amanda Nunes laughs off Julianna Pena’s ‘ducking’ claim
- ‘Amanda Nunes, I want to fight you, it’s time for you to quit ducking,’ says Pena after third-round submission win
- ‘Ducking? You couldn’t even make yourself a contender for me,’ responds double champ
After beating American veteran Sara McMann on the UFC 257 prelims, Julianna Pena raised a few eyebrows with her post-fights comments in the Octagon.
“The Venezuelan Vixen” (10-4) submitted 40-year-old McMann (12-6) with a third-round rear-naked choke on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi on Sunday morning, but then made the bizarre claim that bantamweight champ Amanda Nunes was “ducking” her.
“I‘m coming off fighting three former world champions, and I just beat the best wrestler in the division. Amanda Nunes, I want to fight you,” Pena said.
“It’s time for her to quit ducking.”
This obviously didn’t go down too well with 32-year-old double champ Nunes.
“Ducking? You couldn’t even make yourself a contender for me. @VenezuelanVixen,” Nunes tweeted after hearing Pena’s remarks.
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“Remember that one time you guys were supposed to fight, but then she lost?” the Brazilian’s wife Nina Ansaroff replied.
“Twice,” responded Nunes.
Nunes is set to next defend her 135-pound title against Australian contender Meghan Anderson on March 6.
You always learn from your losses, but Germaine [De Randemie] was in the past,” Pena later added backstage. “All those fights are in the past. I’m thinking about moving forward and being present and Sara was my opponent. I was thinking about Sara McMann only. Now I can move forward and think about who’s next, but the only person that I see that makes sense to me is Amanda Nunes.
“Coming off of fighting three former world champions in a row and then I just beat the best wrestler in the division and Amanda can’t fight wrestlers. When you saw her fight against Cat Zingano, she got rag dolled and got stopped in the second round.
“I am a nightmare in this division. I’m coming off of a win in devastating fashion, a rear-naked choke, a win by submission, a stoppage. I think that that’s enough to give me the fight with Amanda, especially since she is fighting a girl with only three wins and a girl who hasn’t had quite the résumé that I’ve had. I’ve had the toughest road in the division, more than anybody.”
