Amanda Nunes recorded an historic and dominant victory over Julianna Pena to become a two-time bantamweight champion last night - and joined Georges St-Pierre and Khabib Nurmagomedov as one of just three fighters to record a 50-43 scorecard in a UFC title fight.
St-Pierre first achieved the feat against Jon Fitch back in 2008 for welterweight gold, while Nurmagomedov did it against Al Iaquinta during their hastily arranged lightweight title fight at UFC 223. What makes Nunes' feat even more impressive is that she entered the fight as the title challenger, and was the smallest favourite of the three with bookies.
She had lost by submission in the second round to Pena as recently as December in a huge upset, but changed up her whole camp in preparation and turned it around on the night.
When St-Pierre faced Fitch, he was around a 1/3 favourite. Meanwhile, Nurmagomedov faced Iaquinta in the third fight he had arranged that week after Tony Ferguson and Max Holloway were both forced to pull out due to issues, and the New Yorker was not considered a legitimate contender.
Nunes' loss to Pena on December 11 at UFC 269 in Las Vegas was considered one of the biggest upsets in the sport's history after a dominant run to the belt from the Brazilian. She hadn't lost in seven years, and had beaten legends such as Valentina Shevchenko, Ronda Rousey, Cris Cyborg and Miesha Tate.
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But she changed up camp, leaving American Top Team and developing her own squad to train her for the rematch, which she signed for immediately. Pena appeared to have issues making weight, arriving at the last second to hit the scales, but did come in under the 135lb limit.
And the skill difference that was expected the first time was shown in abundance by Nunes throughout the main event in Dallas last night. She completely dominated from start to finish in a brutal and bloody beating that left Pena needing a plastic surgeon, and reclaimed her belt.
"I know Julianna’s tough,” Nunes said after the fight. “I know. I was ready for that. I could have finished her, but I wanted to go five rounds with her tonight to prove I was better than her - I’m better than her. I proved it tonight. Tonight proved that was a lucky day for her. If she needed to become a champion like that – she had her time, but now it’s over.”
