"Conor McGregor broke against Nate Diaz" - Chael Sonnen details why Amanda Nunes should follow the Irishman's lead for her comeback against Julianna Peña
Julianna Peña pulled off one of, if not the greatest, upsets in the history of modern MMA when she beat Amanda Nunes at UFC 269 to become the new women's bantamweight champion. Entering the fight as a heavy underdog, 'The Venezuelan Vixen' shocked the world by ending Nunes' seven-year undefeated streak.
The two women will face off in the main event of UFC 277 this weekend in one of the biggest rematches in history.
PEÑA vs NUNES! #UFC277 is LIVE SATURDAY on @ESPNPlus PPV https://t.co/2Yb2cfCDul
Ahead of the pay-per-view, Chael Sonnen gave his thoughts on Amanda Nunes' recent comments regarding her injured knees ahead of UFC 269. Harking back to Conor McGregor's outings against Nate Diaz, Sonnen noted that the Irishman was able to bounce back after losing to Diaz because of admitting what went wrong. Speaking on an episode of Beyond The Fight, 'The Bad Guy' said:
"Conor McGregor broke against Nate Diaz and it was a very similar fight... Conor talked about it. Conor was very open. He said, 'I mismanaged my energy'. Now that's a fancy way of saying 'I got tired and quit', but he still acknowledged it. And that is the number one reason he was able to change it in the second fight."
Noting that Amanda Nunes needs to acknowledge her shortcomings in the first fight, Sonnen continued:
"I'm not positive in the things I'm hearing with Amanda that she's come to terms with what happened. It wasn't about running, it wasn't about the knee, it wasn't about conditioning. It was about hitting a girl with the same shots that every other girl fell down against and this one doesn't... it's a very correctable thing. You can see Conor McGregor as an example, but only if you acknowledge it."
Watch Sonnen's comments in the video below:
Chael Sonnen picks Julianna Peña to beat Amanda Nunes at UFC 277
During the same video, Sonnen stated that he believes the current bantamweight champion will reign supreme and beat the former champion once again. While 'The American Gangster' sees 'The Lioness' as the more skilled fighter between the two, he sees Peña emerge victorious on Saturday:
"History says Julianna wins, not Chael... I do not believe that Julianna, who I picked the first time and I'm picking this time, I do not believe that Julianna is as good of a fighter as Amanda... but Julianna has an understanding of what she needs to do."
Chael Sonnen noted that Julianna Peña seems to be approaching this fight as a contender rather than a champion. She is still the underdog in the betting books, and Sonnen feels Peña wants to win fans over convincingly. Per 'Uncle Chael', this puts her in a similar mindset to what she had in the first fight against Amanda Nunes at UFC 269.
Current #UFC277 main event odds per @BodogCA
Champion Julianna Pena is still the underdog (+220) against Amanda Nunes (-275) in their rematch 👇
bodog.eu/sports/ufc-mma… https://t.co/DIPxh7IeXy