Amanda Nunes and Julianna Peña put on a Fight of the Year candidate at UFC 277 when they faced off in their second meeting. In this piece we’ll go over some of the options that Dana White and the UFC Matchmakers have for the greatest women’s fighter of all time. Could a third fight with Peña be in the cards? Could a fight with Valentina Shevchenko be in order? Or Could a matchup with someone in the Defunct Featherweight division be next for Nunes?
Peña has gone toe to toe with the GOAT multiple times now and has a 1-1 record against the champ. I think the promotion would love to make a third fight as it would definitely be a money maker, but I don’t know if it will be next for the Champ. In the seven rounds that the pair have faced off against each other Nunes has won six of them, making one think with how lopsided the fight was, is it really needed as there’s other fighters in the division that deserve a crack at 135. So I think that rematch will happen again but not right away.
Fans would love to see a matchup with Valentina Shevchenko. Since their last meeting Shevchenko has gone on a crazy title reign at 125 where she’s literally cleaned out the division much like the way Nunes did at 135 and 145. Shevchenko is 0-2 in her matchups with Amanda Nunes, but they both have run out of people to fight so it would make sense that Dana White would make this fight as it would make money and when two champions fight its something very special the fans would love to see.
Could a matchup at 145 be in the cards for Amanda Nunes. The division has a handful of fighters left on the roster. It seems like it’d be interesting to bring back the division with a new season of the Ultimate fighter where the winner takes on Amanda at the end of the season. White’s done odder things with the series, including adding divisions to the biggest MMA promotion naming champions, this would make sense to fans as they’re probably dying for another season of the Show as it just wrapped its latest season where Nunes coincidentally was a head coach of one of the teams.
These are some possibilities or ideas that would definitely work for the two division champ.
MMA Aficionado 