Maycee Barber slams Julianna Pena’s ‘cringy’ comments after Amanda Nunes retirement: “That was very stupid”

By Josh Evanoff - June 22, 2023

Women’s flyweight contender Maycee Barber didn’t like Julianna Pena’s actions during Amanda Nunes’s retirement.

Maycee Barber and Julianna Pena.

‘The Lioness’ returned to the cage at UFC 289 earlier this month, facing Irene Aldana. However, the women’s bantamweight champion was originally expected to face Julianna Pena in a trilogy bout. Nonetheless, ‘The Venezuelan Vixen’ pulled out due to injury, and Amanda Nunes faced ‘Robles’.

In the main event of UFC 289 earlier this month, the Brazilian dominated. Amanda Nunes wound up battering the challenger en route to a lopsided unanimous decision win to retain the gold. However, following the win, she announced her retirement, giving a passionate speech in the cage.

It was a nice moment, one that was nearly prevented by Julianna Pena. In the aftermath of UFC 289, she revealed that she was going to storm the cage, but was talked out of it. Nonetheless, a video emerged of the former champion shouting and mocking Amanda Nunes during her speech from the crowd.

That night has seemingly caught the ire of Maycee Barber, as she revealed at UFC Jacksonville media day this week. There, ‘The Future’ slammed Julianna Pena’s post-fight comments, adding that the canceled trilogy bout was the best thing for her.

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Julianna Pena Amanda Nunes

(via Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

“The only thing I didn’t like was how much Julianna was talking crap,” Maycee Barber stated when asked about Amanda Nunes’s retirement speech. “Like, that was the only thing that was like, that was cringy. That was probably the only thing about the retirement that I didn’t like. I wish Amanda all the success in the world, all the happiness. She has a family with Nina and it’s really cool to see that, good for her.”

She continued, “[Pena’s comments], I think that was very stupid. You never know what’s going on in somebody’s life, and if she wanted to call it done, she called it done. Like, who’s to say you can’t retire? I think that if Amanda hadn’t retired and fought Julianna, I think that Julianna got out very easy on that.”

What do you make of these comments from Maycee Barber? Do you agree?


Topics:

Amanda Nunes Julianna Pena Maycee Barber UFC