Julianna Peña isn’t buying Amanda Nunes’ recent revelation about a possible return in the octagon. For the No. 1-ranked women’s bantamweight fighter, the former champ ‘was just doing that retirement for attention.”
This week, Nunes shared the possibility of her comeback after watching the UFC 297 event, where Raquel Pennington was crowned as the new champ of the women’s bantamweight division. The fight was not entirely exciting, and although Nunes didn’t exactly echo the sentiment, the icon shared feeling “happy and sad,” suggesting her longing for an MMA fight.
“I’m still young, fresh,” Nunes shared. “We never know [what might happen]. We have a lot of things to do. I’ve got to figure out a bunch of things at home still, what I’m going to do and see what happens.”
While this probably thrilled some fans, Peña found the news absurd.
The two fought in 2021 and 2022, with the first fight won by “The Venezuelan Vixen” via submission. The belt, however, was later taken back by Nunes in July 2022 when they met for a rematch. According to “The Venezuelan Vixen,” she asked her fellow fighter not to retire and push a trilogy fight between them, but it apparently didn’t work out. With this, for Peña, the idea of making a comeback after some persuasion appears just illogical for her. Ultimately, Peña believes it is all just for show.
“Look, great for business, I’ve been trying to coax her into coming back this entire time,” Peña said on The MMA Hour. “It’s absolutely beautiful for everyone, and I knew she wasn’t going to be able to stay away. She was just doing that retirement for attention. It’s just ridiculous.”
Aside from the reason above disclosed by Nunes, the fighter didn’t detail the exact motive for considering a comeback. Nonetheless, it is important to note that the fighter’s announcement came at the same week the UFC announced the entrance of former PFL fighter Kayla Harrison to its roster. There has been some huge interest in the match between the two, but different factors have prevented them from entering the same cage. Nonetheless, now that both are under the same roof and Harrison is joining bantamweight, there is a possibility that the fight might finally happen.
