Nunes, Pena Let The Trash Talk Fly

Amanda Nunes is more known for her legendary fighting ability than her pre-fight trash talk, but “Lioness” is pulling out all the stops for her title defense this weekend at UFC 269 against Julianna Pena.

As it stands, Nunes and Pena are not on the best of terms. Outside of being scheduled to fight for the women’s bantamweight title on UFC’s final pay-per-view card of 2021 the two fighters have shared some history. Whether it’s been missed opportunities to compete in previous years or comments about each other’s abilities, the champion and the challenger couldn’t be further apart.

At Thursday’s UFC 269 pre-fight press conference (replay HERE), Nunes and Pena mixed it up quite a bit on the microphone. It’s not something we typically see from “Lioness,” which leads us to believe this matchup with Pena might mean a little more to the greatest female fighter of all time.

Pena, on the other hand, is doing everything she can to put herself in a position to become the first fighter to defeat Nunes since 2014. The former Ultimate Fighter winner is as confident as ever and is even ready to book her rematch with “Lioness.”

“Yes (there will be) an immediate rematch,” said Pena. “And when I win that fight I will be 11-2 in the division, which is a better bantamweight record in the history of the bantamweight division. As far as walking up to 145 (for a second belt), I don’t know, I’m pretty comfortable in knowing that 135 is my proper weight class. But we can cross that bridge when we get there.”

Nunes, who has won her last 12 trips to the Octagon and is about to defend her 135-pound title for the sixth-straight time, was quick to respond. The reigning UFC double champ has no plans of letting her titles go and she wasn’t afraid to speak up.

“You know that’s not going to happen, right?” Nunes said. “You’re not going to be a champion, girl.”

Pena will enter UFC 269’s co-main event title fight as a massive underdog (complete betting odds HERE). In fact, she’s currently trending at +600 to defeat Nunes and take her women’s bantamweight title. Still, “The Venezuelan Vixen” is going to step inside of the Octagon with her head held high and will let her performance speak for itself.

“We will find out Saturday night,” Pena said. “One of us is going to be dead wrong.”

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 269 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN+ “Prelims” matches at 6 p.m. ET, followed by the remaining undercard balance on ESPN2/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+.