Julianna Peña (12-4) submitted Amanda Nunes (21-5) midway through the second round of their fight to win the UFC bantamweight crown on Saturday night at UFC 269 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
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Nunes wasted no time chipping away at Peña’s lead leg with a handful of chopping leg kicks within the first two minutes. The first shot of the night sent her on her back, then a lead jab put her down again. Peña worked her way back to her feet, fighting off Nunes from her back. But the champ’s strength was on full display as she worked from clinch back to the ground. Nunes took Peña’s back and worked toward a rear-naked choke, but the challenger escaped to half guard. Peña moved for a kimura out of half guard, controlling the champ’s body from underneath to survive the first round.
Peña remained front-footed in the second, stepping into jabs and throwing hands with Nunes. The champ began to load up with big shots, but Peña continued answering with lefts and rights. Peña hurt Nunes with a jab and the champ looked slightly gassed with each responding shot. Peña pressed Nunes against the cage, took her down and earned the tap with a rear-naked choke.
JULIANNA PENA SHOCKS THE WORLD 🌎 #UFC269 pic.twitter.com/LNr4amWe94
— UFC (@ufc) December 12, 2021
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Nunes entered Saturday night untested in seven years as the most dominant women’s competitor and in the running for the greatest fighter of all time. The two-division champ, Nunes has knocked off Valentina Shevchenko, Ronda Rousey, Cris Cyborg, Miesha Tate, Holly Holm, and Germaine de Randamie. Nunes hadn’t competed since June 2020 before fighting twice this year, with a win over Megan Anderson in June that came just two minutes into the first round.
Peña came into Saturday night’s main event winning her last bout, with a submission over Sara McMann.
