Julianna Pena raised a few eyebrows in more ways than one Saturday evening.
First and foremost, Peña (11-4 MMA, 7-2 UFC) shocked the world by pulling off one of the biggest upsets in UFC history with her submission victory over Amanda Nunes at UFC 269 to become the new women’s bantamweight champion. It was her crowning moment after calling for the fight with Nunes (21-5 MMA, 14-2 UFC) for years and proved all of her doubters wrong by finishing the then-two-division champion.
During the post-fight news conference, Peña caused a stir again with some of her comments by saying she was the first “mom champ” because she gave birth to her daughter, which was taken as a slight at Nunes by some.
Nunes is a mother, but her wife and fellow UFC fighter Nina Nunes gave birth to their daughter, Raegan, in September 2020.
“I absolutely had my words misinterpreted,” Peña told MMA Junkie. “Amanda is an amazing mom. She is an amazing mom champ. Amanda had a daughter that was there at the weigh-ins with my daughter, and her daughter embraced my daughter. They were hugging, they were loving on one another.
“When I saw that, I saw that this baby is raised in a home with two loving parents, and for her to display that love to my daughter just showed me how much they care about their daughter and how great of parents they are for their baby.”
Peña ensures that her words meant no harm toward Nunes. Rather the new champ was trying to explain the physical difficulties that go along with carrying a baby through pregnancy and her personal struggles to recover in order to compete as a high-level athlete again.
“When I gave birth, I was almost 42 weeks pregnant,” Peña explained. “I had an emergency c-section where they were like, ‘We have to get this baby out now.’ I watched them gut me like a fish and take out all of my guts, laid it on the table, and threw it back in, and sewed me up.
“If it wasn’t for Mercier Therapy, honestly, I wouldn’t be able to get back inside the octagon. There’s so many things that happen to a woman’s body when they are pregnant. I was pregnant for 10 months. I had a crazy, very emotional c-section. I didn’t know if I was going to fight again. I had to have extra time to bring my body back together to get it back to its peak performance.”
Peña took time away from her career after announcing her pregnancy in October 2017. She suffered a loss to Valentina Shevchenko in January 2017 at UFC on FOX 23, but made a triumphant return after 29 months away by defeating former flyweight champion Nicco Montano at UFC on ESPN+13 in July 2019.
Three fights and two stoppage victories later, Peña is now the champion of her division. Despite some taking her post-fight comments the wrong way, the new champ just wants the credit she deserves for climbing back after all her body went through.
“All I was just saying is that for giving birth, is just if they’re gonna give Amanda a belt for being mom champ then I would also like a belt for being mom champ, is all I was trying to say,” Peña clarified.
“I don’t want to take away from Amanda in any fashion as being a mother, because I know what a great mother she is, and I just really feel like my words were misinterpreted.”
Check out the clip above to hear Peña talk about the situation and be sure to watch the full interview in the video below.
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Julianna Peña says ‘mom champ’ remark wasn’t dig at Amanda Nunes, ‘words misinterpreted’