Amanda
Nunes says she was not at 100 percent during her upset loss to
Julianna
Pena at UFC 269.
In an interview with
ESPN, the former bantamweight queen revealed that she suffered
injuries to both of her knees leading up to her second-round
submission loss to Pena on Dec. 11.
“The whole camp for this fight, of course it was a mess,” said
Nunes, who remains the UFC featherweight champion. “I always want
to put in my head, ‘It’s OK. I can do this.’ [Fighters] are like
that, we want to go through whatever to step in that cage. The
first fight fell through after I got COVID, and then I went through
a couple issues. I wasn’t able to show up to the gym every day at
100 percent, but I didn’t want to let that fight go again.”
Nunes appeared to fatigue quickly against Pena at UFC 269, and that
could have been in part because the Brazilian was too reliant on
her upper body due to her physical limitations. When the knockout
didn’t arrive, Pena was able to assert her will.
“I couldn’t do much jiu-jitsu, wrestling,” Nunes said. “I felt it
in my warmup [on fight night]. My body and especially my arms.
Everything in that camp was arms. I was only doing boxing.
Everything I only did upper body. When I was warming up I was like, ‘That’s not how my body is.’ I’ve been in this game a long time.
Five years with the belt, five years without. My body has never
felt like that.”
Nunes and Pena have been
tabbed to serve as coaches on Season 30 of “The Ultimate
Fighter,” and then they will square off in a 135-pound title
rematch sometime after the conclusion of the show. A date for the
bout has not been announced. Prior to her upset loss to Pena, Nunes
had been regarded by many as the greatest women’s fighter of
all-time as she compiled a 12-bout winning streak and captured
belts in two divisions.
“We all know I’m better than her, we all know I didn’t show up that
night,” Nunes said. “Don’t get me wrong, I feel like Julianna is a
great fighter but she’s not better than me. I’ve fought a lot of
girls better than her in my best shape and still walked away with
my belt. So, with Julianna, this rematch will be different.”