Julianna Pena reveals coach had to talk her out of storming cage during Amanda Nunes retirement speech: “Be classy”
Things nearly got a bit ugly following the UFC 289 main event bout between Julianna Pena and Amanda Nunes on Saturday.
In the main event, Amanda Nunes returned for yet another title defense. She was initially slated to face ‘The Venezuelan Vixen’ in a rare trilogy bout, however, Julianna Pena was forced to withdraw due to injury. As a result, Irene Aldana was given the nod to the short-notice pay-per-view headliner.
In that headliner on Saturday, the Brazilian dominated. Nunes retained her title by unanimous decision and shockingly retired post-fight. It’s worth noting that Pena was in attendance at the event, likely to tease a trilogy bout that won’t be happening. She was cage-side, seen shouting at her rival during the main event.
However, it could’ve been a lot uglier, as Julianna Pena revealed on The MMA Hour. There, the former women’s bantamweight champion admitted that she was debating storming the cage during the foe’s retirement speech. Luckily, she was talked out of it by her coach, who was with her at UFC 289.
“Well, there was a part of me that wanted to storm the cage,” Julianna Pena stated on The MMA Hour. “I had so many people that were like ‘Yes! We’ll do it, we’ll throw you over the gate’ ya know? But then my coach Wayne was like ‘Don’t do it, be classy and don’t do it’, so I let her have my moment. But it was really difficult for me because there were so many times where my urge was to go.”
She continued, “Like, ‘Go, go, go, now’s the time’ but you know at the end of the day, she’s retired. She’s off into the sunset, and she’s dead to me at this point. We just got to keep the division moving, and now we’re stepping into day one of the Pena Power era.”
What do you make of these comments from Julianna Pena? Do you want to see her fight for the vacant title next?
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Amanda Nunes Julianna Pena UFC
