Julianna Pena shocked the world on Saturday night with a second-round submission win over Amanda Nunes, arguably the greatest female mixed martial artist of all time. With such a stunning victory under her belt, the Venezuelan-American fighter is already contemplating her options, not least among them a trip to flyweight to take on Valentina Shevchenko, and a move up to featherweight for a Nunes rematch.
“I would like to go down and rematch Valentina Shevchenko.
I would love to get that rematch against Germaine de Randamie. I would love a rematch, if that’s what she wants, against Amanda. Right now, I just want to soak it all in.
Will Julianna Pena Become The UFC’s First Three-Division Champ?
We can rematch at 135 pounds if she wants to do that, but whatever the company decides. It would be great to be a two-division champion, even to go down to 125 and face Valentina down there. Right now, I just want to soak in the moment of being a champion.”
Julianna Pena is raring to go, and would fight again next week if she could. A rematch against Nunes will be high on the UFC’s list of priorities, and Pena is happy to oblige.
“We can do it next week. I’m free next month. In all fairness, I’ve been in camp for a year. I really think that my daughter deserves some mommy time, some vacation. After that, definitely, if she wants to do a rematch, we can do a rematch. I’ve always been a company girl. Point me in the direction, and I’ll go there.”
Pena entered the Nunes fight a 7-1 underdog, and acknowledged that many failed to take her seriously as a contender.
“I definitely think people have been sleeping on me, and they haven’t been putting any respect on my name, giving me as much credit as I feel I deserve.
Whenever the commentators talk about Amanda Nunes, they’ll say everyone else’s name but mine, and they can’t even spell my name right; they don’t ever put the tilde over the ‘n.’
There’s little things where I’m like, ‘Man, can I get some respect?’ But with that being said, I wasn’t surprised. … For everyone else that was sleeping, wake up, and I’m here.”
Pena’s success surprised many, but not the woman herself. “I shook up the world, and I did what I said I was going to do.
But at the end of the day, I’m not surprised. I’ve been through the wash. I’ve done it all. I’m talking torn everything that you could possibly think of, ran over by cars, hit by dudes in the alleys, I’ve done it all. Nothing was going to stop me from getting this belt. It’s my time.”
Do you think Pena has what it takes to dominate two, or even three divisions? Let us know in the comments.
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