Daniel Cormier doesn’t think Julianna Pena deserves a trilogy bout with Amanda Nunes right away.
Peña (11-5 MMA, 7-3 UFC) scored a shocking upset win to dethrone then-bantamweight champion Nunes last December at UFC 269. In that fight, Peña was able to weather Nunes’ early storm and then broke her by submitting her in Round 2.
Nunes (22-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) was awarded an immediate rematch earlier this year at UFC 277 and avenged her loss in emphatic fashion to regain the title. Although a bloodied-up Peña showed incredible heart by surviving multiple knockdowns, Cormier doesn’t think her overall accolades should result in an immediate rubber match with Nunes like she’s been calling for.
“The work hasn’t warranted an immediate rematch,” Cormier said on his “DC & RC” ESPN show. “Because if not, then every champion that loses gets an immediate rematch. It’s not like that. It just doesn’t work that way. Amanda got an immediate rematch, because she’s Amanda Nunes. Jose Aldo didn’t get an immediate rematch (against Conor McGregor), and he was the longest-reigning featherweight champion of all time.
“Sometimes you’ve got to move on to get back. I think Julianna’s in that position. I don’t know if the work that she’s put on paper warrants (it). Just because she survived in the last match, I think she might have lost every single round of that fight.”
Cormier thinks there are a few fresh matchups out there like Ketlen Vieira, who could surprise everyone just like Peña did in her first fight with Nunes.
“Who’s to say that if she (Nunes) fights Ketlen Vieira, who has put together a nice win streak, has beaten two former champions, how do we know that that doesn’t play out in that way?” Cormier said. “We had no idea that the gal (Talia Santos) was gonna fight Valentina Shevchenko in the way that she did. We didn’t. So it’s like, you’ve got to give it to the next (person). I just don’t think the work that she’s put on paper warrants an immediate rematch.”
Daniel Cormier: Julianna Peña’s work ‘hasn’t warranted an immediate rematch’ vs. Amanda Nunes
