Amanda Nunes shocked the world in an unexpected way on Saturday evening.
The former two-division UFC champion lost her bantamweight title in the co-main event of UFC 269 in Las Vegas. Nunes (21-5 MMA, 14-2 UFC), who was a heavy favorite, was submitted by Julianna Pena with a rear-naked choke in the second round of this championship bout.
Nunes was not surprised at what Pena brought to the table, but admits she had an off night.
“Honestly, it’s no surprise at all,” Nunes said in her post-fight interview following the fight. “I know she’s a warrior. I know she can come forward and I know she can get hit and still keep moving forward.
“I just today checked out. I still need to work on a couple of things. I’m going to keep working until I fix them and soon I will come back to the gym and come back here. Thank you guys for all the cheers. I’ll see you guys all again soon.”
Gracious in defeat, this isn't the last we will see of @Amanda_Leoa 🦁#UFC269 pic.twitter.com/NnRf1WC2zu
— UFC (@ufc) December 12, 2021
Nunes still holds the UFC’s women’s featherweight title. The loss to Pena was her first defeat since losing to Cat Zingano in 2014. Nunes saw her 12-fight winning streak come to an end with the defeat.
The 33-year-old gave no signal of a potential retirement and plans to return to the octagon.
“Honestly, I did everything tonight,” Nunes said. “I trained very hard for this, but I feel like I still like fought with a couple of things I thought I fixed, but they came back tonight. Congratulations to Julianna, she’s a warrior. I knew that the whole time. I’m going to go back to the gym and train hard and then come back strong.”
