Julianna Peña rips Amanda Nunes for contemplating UFC return: ‘She was just doing that retirement for attention’

January 23, 2024 1:00 pm ET

Julianna Pena was never convinced of Amanda Nunes’ retirement – and she still isn’t.

Nunes (23-5 MMA, 16-2 UFC), who hung up her gloves after retaining her bantamweight title against Irene Aldana last June, was in attendance for Raquel Pennington’s title-winning performance over Mayra Bueno Silva in this past Saturday’s UFC 297 co-main event.

Nunes said she still feels like a champion when asked about a potential comeback to the octagon and didn’t entirely rule out a return. Peña caught plenty of grief when she booed Nunes during her retirement speech, so she finds the former two-division UFC champion’s comments laughable.

“Here’s the thing that really chaps my ass,” Peña said on “The MMA Hour.” “When I was at her last fight, I was booing because she was going into retirement and I was like, ‘Don’t go into retirement. We have literally the biggest fight in women’s history, a trilogy that’s never been done before. What are you doing saying you’re going to retire? What a joke.’

“It warrants a boo because she’s over there telling Megan Olivi that she’s coming out of retirement. So I was right, and it was ‘Mystic Peña’ once again. Like, they were going to get mad at me and all her fans are upset at me. ‘Why would you boo her? How dare you?’ But it’s like, how dare she? How dare she say that she’s retiring and then one women’s fight later now she’s saying she’s coming back. Get out of here.”

Peña (11-5 MMA, 7-3 UFC) scored a massive upset win over Nunes when she submitted her to become bantamweight champion at UFC 269. Nunes was able to avenge her loss in dominant fashion at UFC 277, and Peña has been eager to settle the score ever since.

“Look, great for business, I’ve been trying to coax her into coming back this entire time.” Peña said. “It’s absolutely beautiful for everyone, and I knew she wasn’t going to be able to stay away. She was just doing that retirement for attention. It’s just ridiculous.”

For now, Peña is turning her attention to newly crowned champion Pennington (16-8 MMA, 13-5 UFC), whom she has history with. Both took part in Season 18 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” which Peña won.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 297.

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