Amanda Nunes News

Drake Riggs - August 5, 2021

Julianna Pena is no longer challenging for the UFC bantamweight title at UFC 264 this Saturday night — that didn’t stop her from showing up anyway. At Thursday’s pre-fight press conference in Houston, Texas, “The Venezuelan Vixen” got on one of the media microphones to shoot her shot.

Adam D Martin - August 1, 2021

Women’s strawweight Nina Nunes announced that she and her wife, UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes, tested negative for COVID-19. Amanda Nunes was scheduled to fight rival Julianna Pena in the co-main event of UFC 265 next Saturday night at Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, but the fight was scratched this week after Nunes was forced to withdraw due to a positive COVID-19 test. According to the UFC, the plan is for the promotion to rebook Nunes vs. Pena later this year for the women’s 135lbs belt, with December being thrown around as a potential date. But according to Nina Nunes, she and her wife have tested negative for COVID-19 and are already feeling better.

Adam D Martin - July 30, 2021

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes issued a statement after withdrawing from the Julianna Pena title fight at UFC 265. Nunes tested positive for COVID-19 and her 135lbs title fight against Pena — which was scheduled to take place next Saturday night at UFC 265 in Houston, Texas — had to be canceled. The UFC’s plan is to keep this title fight intact and book it for later this year once Nunes is healthy again. It’s unfortunate that Nunes and Pena had to have been taken off the card, but sadly, this is unlikely to be the only COVID-19 withdrawal coming up given how many people around the world are still dealing with the coronavirus and its variants.

Adam D Martin - July 29, 2021

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes has been forced to withdraw from the Julianna Pena matchup at UFC 265 next weekend. ESPN’s Mike Coppinger broke the news on Thursday that Nunes has tested positive for COVID-19 and her upcoming title defense against Nunes has been canceled. It was scheduled to be the co-main event for UFC 265. According to UFC exec Hunter Campbell, the promotion is hoping to re-book the fight for later this year once Nunes is good to go.

Adam D Martin - June 17, 2021

UFC women’s bantamweight and featherweight champion Amanda Nunes is among the MMA fighters up for nomination at the 2021 ESPY Awards. Nunes is up for nomination in two categories this year. The first category that she is nominated for is Best Athlete in Women’s Sports, and “The Lioness” is up against Naomi Osaka in tennis, Simone Biles in gymnastics, and Breanna Stewart of the WNBA’s Seattle Storm for the award. The 2021 ESPY Awards show takes place on July 10.

Adam D Martin - June 9, 2021

UFC women’s bantamweight and featherweight champion Amanda Nunes called out celebrity Kim Kardashian, and former Cris Cyborg responded to it. UFC president Dana White recently did an interview where he was asked about Jake Paul and Logan Paul fighting in the world’s leading MMA promotion, and he compared it to bringing in Kardashian to fight Nunes. It was a humourous comment from White and not designed to be taken seriously, but Nunes has decided to run with it and made a post on her social media where she jokingly called out the television personality for a future fight.

Drake Riggs - June 3, 2021

Amanda Nunes is finding herself fueled by her next opponent’s recent trash talking. The current UFC bantamweight and featherweight queen is set to once again defend the first of the two titles she won when facing Julianna Pena at UFC 265 on August 7. Venezuela’s Pena was originally set to do battle with Holly Holm at an earlier date before Holm was forced out with an injury. Now, many have criticized Pena for only getting the title shot due to her outspoken ways.

Drake Riggs - June 1, 2021

Julianna Pena is next in line for Amanda Nunes. Between the two experienced bantamweights, they have multiple common opponents. Yet for “The Venezuelan Vixen,” one, in particular, stands out the most.

Adam D Martin - May 3, 2021

UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko is confident that the trilogy fight against her rival Amanda Nunes will happen one day. The calls for a trilogy between Shevchenko and Nunes are high after “Bullet” ran through Jessica Andrade in her last outing at UFC 261. Since moving down to flyweight, Shevchenko is a perfect 7-0, with a 6-0 record in flyweight title fights. The UFC is having trouble finding opponents for Shevchenko as she has been blowing everyone she fights out of the water. The only trouble she has ever had in her UFC career was against Nunes, and thus fans want to see them fight again. The two rivals previously met in 2016 and 2017, with Nunes winning a unanimous decision at UFC 196 and a split decision at UFC 215.

Adam D Martin - April 19, 2021

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes opened up as a big betting favorite for her upcoming title defense against Julianna Pena. It was revealed last week that Nunes will move back down to 135lbs for her next fight and put her belt on the line against Pena at UFC 265, which takes place on August 7 at a location that has yet to be determined. Pena was extremely vocal in the media about wanting to get the title shot and, in a division where there are very few other fresh contenders, UFC president Dana White eventually gave in and gave her the title shot.

Adam D Martin - April 16, 2021

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes and rival Julianna Pena reacted after their title fight booking at UFC 265. Nunes vs. Pena will take place on August 7 at UFC 265. Pena was calling for the fight in recent months on social media and in interviews, and after UFC president Dana White admitted that he was thinking about giving her the title shot, the promotion ended up making good on those comments and booking it. Nunes vs. Pena will now take place this summer at UFC 265, though it’s unknown if it will headline or if another title fight will take place on the card. Either way, Nunes vs. Pena should be a highly-anticipated battle.

Cole Shelton - April 15, 2021

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.

Adam D Martin - March 25, 2021

Miesha Tate is coming out of retirement and her goal is to land a rematch with UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes. Tate announced on Wednesday that she is ending her nearly-five year retirement from MMA and is returning to the Octagon this summer when she takes on Marion Reneau. Following a 2016 loss to Raquel Pennington at UFC 205, Tate decided to hang up her gloves and start a family. She also worked for ONE Championship during that time. However, once COVID-19 hit, Tate moved her family back to Las Vegas. It appears as though being around the fight game in Vegas got her fighting spirit back and now she’s coming back.

Drake Riggs - March 15, 2021

Following her successful seventh career title defense, Amanda Nunes appeared in jeopardy of losing a title. She now also disputes that notion. “They did not cut the [featherweight] division,” Nunes told FanSided. “Dana [White] and I have a great relationship, as long as I want to defend it he will find me opponents.”

Tom Taylor - March 11, 2021

Julianna Pena has a message for Amanda Nunes: Vacate the bantamweight title if you’re not going to defend it. Nunes currently holds the UFC bantamweight featherweight titles, and has defended both multiple times. Her last two fights, however, have both been featherweight title defenses, which has evidently drawn the frustration of Pena.

Tom Taylor - March 8, 2021

UFC bantamweight contender Julianna Pena is setting her sights on a title shot against Amanda Nunes. Nunes currently rules over the UFC bantamweight and featherweight divisions. She returned to the Octagon at UFC 259 last Saturday, defending the former title with a blowout, first-round submission victory over Megan Anderson.

Adam Martin - March 7, 2021

UFC president Dana White says he is interested in having Amanda Nunes fight Julianna Pena next for the UFC women’s bantamweight title. Nunes got through Megan Anderson with relative ease at UFC 259, as she tapped her opponent out for her second defense of the UFC women’s featherweight title. At this point, there aren’t any new challenges for Nunes at 145lbs and she is likely going to return down to 135lbs for her next fight. Although “The Lioness” has beaten many of the top contenders at bantamweight already, there are still a couple of fresh fights out there or the champ at 135lbs. One of those potential opponents is Pena, who previously called Nunes out. Both women have expressed interest in a potential fight, and it seems like White likes it, too.

Christopher Taylor - March 6, 2021

Megan Anderson entered tonight’s UFC 259 co-main event with hopes of playing spoiler against consensus women’s GOAT Amanda Nunes. Anderson (11-5 MMA) was returning to action this evening for the first time since February of 2020, where she earned a first round knockout victory over Norma Dumont. That victory had served as the Aussie’s second in a row, as Anderson had previously defeated Zarah Fairn Dos Santos by submission at UFC 243.