Julianna Pena will do just about anything to win her rematch against Amanda Nunes tomorrow night (Sat., July 30, 2022) at UFC 277 live on ESPN+ pay-per-view (PPV)/ABC/ESPN from inside American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Tex., and that includes putting her life on the line inside of the Octagon.
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CHAMPIONSHIP DOUBLE-DIP! Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returns to American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, on Sat., July 30, 2022, for the first time in almost four years, headlined by a thrilling women’s Bantamweight championship rematch between division queenpin, Julianna Peña, attempt her first successful title defense against former titleholder and current women’s Featherweight champion, Amanda Nunes. In UFC 277’s pay-per-view (PPV) co-main event, an interim Flyweight champion will be crowned when former titleholder, Brandon Moreno, runs it back with Kai Kara-France.
Pena, who turned in one of the biggest upsets of all time and submitted Nunes at UFC 269 last December, will be defending her women’s bantamweight title for the first time this weekend. Despite winning her first matchup against “Lioness” Pena still finds herself a betting underdog for the rematch. That’s because Nunes is considered the greatest female fighter of all time and someone who walks around with an aura of invincibility, but Pena isn’t buying into any of that.
“Fedor Emelianenko has an aura, Mike Tyson, Dana White, they have auras,” said Pena during Thursday’s pre-fight press conference (watch HERE). “I don’t know about this aura that you speak of with Amanda Nunes. I’m not seeing it.”
It took Pena eight years since entering the promotion to lock down her first title shot so the champion would understandably stop at nothing to retain her title. Pena insists that she would do anything on Saturday to make sure Nunes doesn’t leave with the 135-pound title.
“I am going to punch, kick, pull her hair – I’m going to bite her, I’m going to gouge her eyeballs out if I have to,” said Pena. “I’m literally going to do everything in there. Trust me when I say I am ready and willing to die. Whatever it takes, I’m going to do whatever it takes.”
“And I will be there ready to be even better than her,” countered Nunes. “She really is going to face a ‘Lioness’ she didn’t see last time, so I’m ready.”
Nunes, who saw her 12-fight win streak snapped at the hands of Pena back in December, has looked incredible in the lead up to the rematch. She’s literally living at her gym and seems to be in the best shape of her entire career. It will be interesting to see which bantamweight escapes UFC 277 with the title and how they end up pulling it off.
Hopefully no eye-gouging is involved.
MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 277 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on ABC/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.
To check out the latest and greatest UFC 277: “Pena vs. Nunes 2” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here. For the complete UFC 277 fight card and PPV lineup click here.