Amanda Nunes News

Adam D Martin - July 30, 2021

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes issued a statement after withdrawing from the Julianna Pena title fight at UFC 265. Nunes tested positive for COVID-19 and her 135lbs title fight against Pena — which was scheduled to take place next Saturday night at UFC 265 in Houston, Texas — had to be canceled. The UFC’s plan is to keep this title fight intact and book it for later this year once Nunes is healthy again. It’s unfortunate that Nunes and Pena had to have been taken off the card, but sadly, this is unlikely to be the only COVID-19 withdrawal coming up given how many people around the world are still dealing with the coronavirus and its variants.

Adam D Martin - July 29, 2021

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes has been forced to withdraw from the Julianna Pena matchup at UFC 265 next weekend. ESPN’s Mike Coppinger broke the news on Thursday that Nunes has tested positive for COVID-19 and her upcoming title defense against Nunes has been canceled. It was scheduled to be the co-main event for UFC 265. According to UFC exec Hunter Campbell, the promotion is hoping to re-book the fight for later this year once Nunes is good to go.

Drake Riggs - July 15, 2021

Miesha Tate is officially back and looking to regain the UFC bantamweight title. Next on deck for the current champion in Amanda Nunes will be The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) season 18 winner, Julianna Pena. A fellow Washington native of Tate’s, Pena was also coached by “Cupcake” on that season of TUF.

Adam D Martin - June 17, 2021

UFC women’s bantamweight and featherweight champion Amanda Nunes is among the MMA fighters up for nomination at the 2021 ESPY Awards. Nunes is up for nomination in two categories this year. The first category that she is nominated for is Best Athlete in Women’s Sports, and “The Lioness” is up against Naomi Osaka in tennis, Simone Biles in gymnastics, and Breanna Stewart of the WNBA’s Seattle Storm for the award. The 2021 ESPY Awards show takes place on July 10.

Drake Riggs - June 3, 2021

Amanda Nunes is finding herself fueled by her next opponent’s recent trash talking. The current UFC bantamweight and featherweight queen is set to once again defend the first of the two titles she won when facing Julianna Pena at UFC 265 on August 7. Venezuela’s Pena was originally set to do battle with Holly Holm at an earlier date before Holm was forced out with an injury. Now, many have criticized Pena for only getting the title shot due to her outspoken ways.

Drake Riggs - June 1, 2021

Julianna Pena is next in line for Amanda Nunes. Between the two experienced bantamweights, they have multiple common opponents. Yet for “The Venezuelan Vixen,” one, in particular, stands out the most.

Drake Riggs - May 4, 2021

Amanda Nunes is the UFC’s first and only female dual-division champion. She intends to keep it that way if she has any say in the matter. Immediately following Nunes’ last successful title defense at UFC 259 against Megan Anderson, the challenger in Anderson proclaimed that the 145-pound featherweight class was done in the UFC. Soon after, the UFC denied that possibility, and Nunes has also since expressed that it wasn’t true.

Adam D Martin - May 3, 2021

UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko is confident that the trilogy fight against her rival Amanda Nunes will happen one day. The calls for a trilogy between Shevchenko and Nunes are high after “Bullet” ran through Jessica Andrade in her last outing at UFC 261. Since moving down to flyweight, Shevchenko is a perfect 7-0, with a 6-0 record in flyweight title fights. The UFC is having trouble finding opponents for Shevchenko as she has been blowing everyone she fights out of the water. The only trouble she has ever had in her UFC career was against Nunes, and thus fans want to see them fight again. The two rivals previously met in 2016 and 2017, with Nunes winning a unanimous decision at UFC 196 and a split decision at UFC 215.

Adam D Martin - April 16, 2021

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes and rival Julianna Pena reacted after their title fight booking at UFC 265. Nunes vs. Pena will take place on August 7 at UFC 265. Pena was calling for the fight in recent months on social media and in interviews, and after UFC president Dana White admitted that he was thinking about giving her the title shot, the promotion ended up making good on those comments and booking it. Nunes vs. Pena will now take place this summer at UFC 265, though it’s unknown if it will headline or if another title fight will take place on the card. Either way, Nunes vs. Pena should be a highly-anticipated battle.

Cole Shelton - April 15, 2021

Amanda Nunes will attempt to defend her bantamweight title for the first time since 2019 this summer. According to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, Nunes will defend her 135-pound strap against Julianna Pena at UFC 265. The date or the location of the event is no certain, but August 7 is the most likely date.

Adam Martin - March 25, 2021

UFC president Dana White confirmed that he is thinking about booking UFC women’s bantamweight championship Amanda Nunes vs. Julianna Pena. Nunes is coming off of a quick submission win over Megan Anderson at UFC 259 in a 145lbs title defense, and the promotion is looking to turn her back around quickly in a 135lbs title fight. The one fighter in the women’s bantamweight division who has been the most vocal about getting the fight with Nunes is Pena, the former “The Ultimate Fighter” winner. Pena is coming off of a submission win over Sara McMann and she believes that win should be enough to get her the title shot in what is a shallow division in terms of fresh contenders.

Adam D Martin - March 25, 2021

Miesha Tate is coming out of retirement and her goal is to land a rematch with UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes. Tate announced on Wednesday that she is ending her nearly-five year retirement from MMA and is returning to the Octagon this summer when she takes on Marion Reneau. Following a 2016 loss to Raquel Pennington at UFC 205, Tate decided to hang up her gloves and start a family. She also worked for ONE Championship during that time. However, once COVID-19 hit, Tate moved her family back to Las Vegas. It appears as though being around the fight game in Vegas got her fighting spirit back and now she’s coming back.

Tom Taylor - March 11, 2021

Julianna Pena has a message for Amanda Nunes: Vacate the bantamweight title if you’re not going to defend it. Nunes currently holds the UFC bantamweight featherweight titles, and has defended both multiple times. Her last two fights, however, have both been featherweight title defenses, which has evidently drawn the frustration of Pena.

Tom Taylor - March 8, 2021

UFC bantamweight contender Julianna Pena is setting her sights on a title shot against Amanda Nunes. Nunes currently rules over the UFC bantamweight and featherweight divisions. She returned to the Octagon at UFC 259 last Saturday, defending the former title with a blowout, first-round submission victory over Megan Anderson.

Cole Shelton - March 8, 2021

On the stacked UFC 259 card, three title fights headlined the event with one title changing hands although it being controversial. In the main event, Jan Blachowicz edged out a decision over middleweight champ, Israel Adesanya to defend his light heavyweight title. The co-main event saw Amanda Nunes submit Megan Anderson to defend her featherweight. In the first of three title fights, Aljamain Sterling became the new bantamweight champion after Petr Yan threw an illegal knee and was disqualified.

Adam Martin - March 7, 2021

UFC president Dana White says he is interested in having Amanda Nunes fight Julianna Pena next for the UFC women’s bantamweight title. Nunes got through Megan Anderson with relative ease at UFC 259, as she tapped her opponent out for her second defense of the UFC women’s featherweight title. At this point, there aren’t any new challenges for Nunes at 145lbs and she is likely going to return down to 135lbs for her next fight. Although “The Lioness” has beaten many of the top contenders at bantamweight already, there are still a couple of fresh fights out there or the champ at 135lbs. One of those potential opponents is Pena, who previously called Nunes out. Both women have expressed interest in a potential fight, and it seems like White likes it, too.

Chris Taylor - March 6, 2021

Tonight’s UFC 259 event was co-headlined by a women’s featherweight title fight featuring Amanda Nunes squaring off with challenger Megan Anderson. Nunes (21-4 MMA) was returning to action for the first time since successfully defending her featherweight crown against Felicia Spencer at UFC 250. The UFC ‘champ champ‘ had entered tonight’s co-headliner riding a sensational eleven-fight winning streak.

Chris Taylor - March 6, 2021

Tonight’s UFC 259 event is co-headlined by a women’s featherweight title fight featuring reigning champion Amanda Nunes taking on challenger Megan Anderson. Nunes (20-4 MMA) will be returning to action for the first time since successfully defending her featherweight crown against Felicia Spencer at UFC 250. The UFC ‘champ champ‘ will enter tonight’s co-headliner riding a sensational eleven-fight winning streak.