Julianna Peña believes former champion Amanda Nunes will not return to the sport of mixed martial arts after Peña secures a victory over Kayla Harrison.
Peña is scheduled to defend her women`s bantamweight championship against Harrison in the co-main event of UFC 316 next month. While the title is on the line, the bout also serves as a potential gateway to a future clash with the acclaimed women’s MMA GOAT, Amanda Nunes. Nunes recently announced her intention to end her two-year retirement from the sport to challenge the winner of the Peña vs. Harrison fight. Peña stated that she always expected Nunes to make a comeback.
“I was always expecting it,” Peña told Ariel Helwani. “I literally said it. I went over there to Vancouver, watched her lay down her gloves, and told everybody what a liar she was and booed her the entire time because I knew that she wasn’t going to be fully retired.
“That’s the thing, I hate this whole, ‘I’m retiring. I’m done.’ If you’re going to retire, stay retired. I don’t understand why fighters always retire and then come back. What is the point? Somebody hand this girl the Oscar because she had everybody like, ‘It’s over.’ I’m like, ‘No, it’s not. She’s way too young, she’s not going to be done, she doesn’t know what her life is outside of fighting, and she’s going to get bored and she’s going to want to come back and fight again.’ Now that the limelight is not on her, and it’s on Kayla and I, she sees that. I know that she’s itching and scratching to get back in there.”
Nunes retired following her successful title defense against Irene Aldana at UFC 289. However, after Harrison signed with the UFC in 2024, rumors circulated that Nunes might be interested in returning specifically to face Harrison. A fight between the two had been heavily speculated back in 2021 before Peña`s upset victory over Nunes at UFC 269 altered the landscape and sent Harrison back to the PFL. Peña aims to thwart those potential plans once more by defeating Harrison.
“So she’s in for a long night at the office,” Peña said regarding Harrison. “And not only that, but take into consideration her first fight at 135 pounds, going 25 minutes. It’s going to be very grueling and taxing, and at this point, it’s like, how are you going to win? You might be able to lay on top of me for one round, maybe, but after that? Every minute that the fight goes on, the longer that the fight goes on is just better for me. I got the gas tank, I got the cardio.”
Should Peña emerge victorious, “The Venezuelan Vixen” has previously expressed a desire for a trilogy bout with Nunes, but she is doubtful it will materialize if she spoils the potential Harrison fight.
“It was told to me, ‘Amanda wants nothing to do with you,’” Peña stated. “‘She wants absolutely nothing to do with you. She hates Kayla. She feels like she has nothing to prove against you, and that she hates Kayla more than she feels like she wants to fight you. So if she comes back, it’s to fight Kayla only.’ When she sees that chaotic mess that she’s going to see on June 7, she’s not going to want to get back in there again and do it all over again. She’ll probably stay ‘retired.’ But we’ll see.”
UFC 316 is scheduled to take place on June 17th at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
