Julianna Pena Claims Amanda Nunes Prefers Kayla Harrison Fight Over Trilogy

Julianna Pena continues to level shots at Amanda Nunes in the hopes of a trilogy clash.

Pena captured the bantamweight title with a shocking upset submission win over Nunes in their first encounter at UFC 269. Nunes regained her strap with a lopsided unanimous decision over Pena in their rematch at UFC 277 the next year. While they were slated to meet in a rubber match at UFC 289 in 2023, Pena had to pull out due to an injury. Nunes went on to beat short-notice replacement Irene Aldana via unanimous decision and hung up her gloves.

While recovering from her injury, Pena has consistently tried to coax Nunes out of retirement in the hopes of a trilogy clash. Meanwhile, Raquel Pennington won the vacant title with a unanimous decision over Mayra Bueno Silva at UFC 297 this past January. Pena received a gold bid against “Rocky” at UFC 307 on Oct. 5, and “The Venezuelan Vixen” went on to dethrone Pennington via a controversial split decision. Pennington defeated Pena on the scorecards of Verdict MMA , which is a popular public polling website.

Meanwhile, top contender Kayla Harrision defeated Ketlen Vieira via unanimous decision in a title eliminator at UFC 307. However, Pena has been insistent on a potential trilogy clash against Nunes instead of fighting the two-time Olympic gold medalist. The bantamweight champ now claims that she has been told that Nunes is willing to come out of retirement to fight the winner of potential clash between her and Harrison. But Pena believes Nunes is hoping that Harrison beats her. According to Pena, Nunes has realized in their two outings that no amount of money is worth the damage she’ll potentially sustain in a trilogy.

“They give me a call, they say, ‘She [Nunes] wants to face he winner of you vs. Kayla [Harrison].’ And so she will come back, but she’s waiting to fight the winner,” Pena told Ariel Helwani. “So, she thinks I’m gonna lose to Kayla. And when I beat Kayla then she’s gonna say, ‘I stay retired.’ But if Kayla wins, then she’s gonna come out of retirement and look like some hero… She feels that she doesn’t have anything to prove against me. And she feels that she hates Kayla more than she does want to prove something and fight me for a trilogy.

“First fight I took her pride, second fight I took her soul. And she walked out of there with freaking elephantids on half her face, crutches and a wheelchair. She knows that it’s not gonna be some walk in the park, easy night in the office… No amount of money that they pay her is gonna be worth the amount of damage that she’s going to have to sustain in this fight. Because I’m not going away. And she knows that.”