Amanda Nunes to defend bantamweight title at UFC 265 against Julianna Pena

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.

After Nunes was looking to drop back down to bantamweight, this was the fight to make, especially after the way Pena has been calling ‘The Lioness’ out as of late. UFC president, Dana White also said this was the plan.

“Right now, alright, I’ll give you a little something that we’re talking about right now. So Julianna Pena has been driving me f*cking bananas, okay? Will not stop terrorizing me that she deserves this fight,” White said to TMZ Sports back in March. “‘Amanda Nunes this, Amanda Nunes that, Amanda’s ducking her, Amanda doesn’t want her because the style doesn’t match up well for Amanda.’ So I’m thinking about doing Pena and Nunes.”

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Amanda Nunes is coming off a dominant first-round submission over Megan Anderson to defend her featherweight title for the second time. Before that, she scored a dominant decision win over Felicia Spencer to defend the 145lbs title for the first time. Nunes won the featherweight strap back at UFC 232 where he scored a first-round KO over Cris Cyborg.

For the bantamweight title, Nunes has held that belt since UFC 200 in 2016 and has defended it five times. She has notable title defenses over Ronda Rousey, Valentina Shevchenko, Holly Holm, and Germaine de Randamie.

Julianna Pena, meanwhile, returned to the win column at UFC 257 as she scored a submission win over Sara McMann. Prior to the win, she suffered a submission loss to de Randamie. In her career, she holds notable wins over Cat Zingano, Jessica Eye, and Nicco Montano. This will also be her first UFC title shot.

Who do you think will win, Amanda Nunes or Julianna Pena?