"It's going to be very hard to correct the actual problem" - Chael Sonnen picks Julianna Pena to win at UFC 277, believes Amanda Nunes hasn't realized the reason behind first loss
Chael Sonnen has picked Julianna Pena to defeat Amanda Nunes in their upcoming rematch. Sonnen believes that Nunes will lose to Pena again, as the former bantamweight champion hasn’t realized why she lost their first fight.
In their first fight that transpired in December 2021, Nunes impressively dominated Pena throughout round one. However, ‘The Lioness’ noticeably fatigued in round two, which opened the door for Pena to relentlessly attack her with a barrage of strikes.
‘The Venezuelan Vixen’ stopped an exhausted Nunes with a rear-naked choke submission later in the round, winning the UFC women’s bantamweight title in the process.
JULIANNA PENA JUST SHOCKED THE WORLD!!!
SHE JUST SUBMITTED AMANDA NUNES!!!
AND NEWWWWWWWWW!!!
#UFC269 https://t.co/ITDFIq81ij
Intriguingly, Nunes has maintained that she wasn’t healthy heading into the first fight. She’d purportedly been dealing with knee injury issues and even considered pulling out of that fight. In an edition of Beyond the Fight, 'The Bad Guy' addressed these statements made by Nunes.
Chael Sonnen noted that Nunes recently attributed her poor performance to not doing adequate roadwork due to her knee injury issues. Sonnen disagreed with Nunes' hypothesis. He suggested that Nunes lost because of the psychological fatigue she experienced after finding herself in a tougher fight than she’d expected.
Sonnen stated:
“If Amanda believes she lost that fight because she didn’t get roadwork in prior to it, it’s going to be very hard to correct the actual problem, which had nothing to do with that.”
Furthermore, Chael Sonnen indicated that Nunes hasn’t realized and accepted the real reason behind her loss, which is why she’s bound to lose again. Predicting that Pena will beat Nunes in the rematch, Sonnen said:
“Somebody finds themselves in a situation that is more difficult than they thought it was going to be, and they tire and fatigue from a sports psychology standpoint.”
Watch Sonnen discuss the topic at 3:40 in the video below:
Julianna Pena aims to silence her critics by beating Amanda Nunes at UFC 277
Reigning UFC women’s bantamweight champion Julianna Pena is scheduled to defend her title against MMA legend and UFC women’s featherweight champion Amanda Nunes. Their bantamweight title matchup will headline UFC 277 on July 30th.
In the UFC 277 Predictions video posted to the UFC’s official YouTube channel, Julianna Pena fired back at those who’ve claimed that Amanda Nunes wasn’t at her best in their first fight. Promising to silence her detractors by beating Nunes again, Pena said:
“I am very aware that Amanda had a list of a hundred reasons why she lost to me. But now that those reasons are gone; now that we’re gonna see Amanda at the best condition, at the biggest, strongest, fastest, most explosive Amanda we’ve ever seen, I am on edge.”
Watch Pena’s assessment below: