Julianna Pena urges Dana White to let her and Amanda Nunes coach in the upcoming TUF season
Julianna Pena recently came up with an idea for a potential matchup with Amanda Nunes. The #6 ranked women's bantamweight recently took to Twitter to suggest that she and Amanda Nunes could feature as opposing coaches in the new season of The Ultimate Fighter. Tagging UFC President Dana White, along with matchmakers Mick Maynard and Sean Shelby, Julianna Pena wrote -
I got a great idea! Is there coaches for the new season of TUF yet?? @danawhite @ufc @seanshelby @Mickmaynard2. Amanda and I would be great coaches for the upcoming new season! #TUF
With the 29th season of The Ultimate Fighter around the corner, Kamaru Usman and Jorge Masvidal are also potential candidates to feature as opposing coaches. Kamaru Usman has expressed his desire to fight Masvidal with a full camp, calling out the latter after his third successful title defense against Gilbert Burns at UFC 258. Usman's manager, Ali Abdelaziz has since told Brett Okamoto from ESPN that he is already in discussions with the UFC about Usman and Masvidal featuring on TUF.
Julianna Pena called out Amanda Nunes
Julianna Pena's suggestion to Dana White comes following a recent callout to Amanda Nunes, where she accused 'The Lioness' of ducking her. According to Pena, she is stylistically problematic for the two-division champion to the point of being her 'Kryptonite'. Fearless of calling out Nunes, Pena said in a recent interview with TMZ Sports -
"I definitely think she knows stylistically I am the worst matchup for her. I know it, I am her Kryptonite, and I think that's why she keeps trying to push it off. She’s not this big ol’ boogeyman that everyone thinks she is, and I'm not afraid of her, and I definitely think she knows that"
Amanda Nunes suffered her last loss at the hands of Cat Zingano in 2014 who Julianna Pena later went on to defeat. Though Nunes has been riding a 12-fight win streak since then, Pena is confident that she can take Nunes to deeper waters than Zingano did. In her interview with TMZ Sports, Julianna Pena said of Nunes -
“I’m still here, I’m in the division, and stylistically, I am the worst possible matchup for [Nunes]. The last time she was put on her back by Cat Zingano, she balled up into the fetal position and had the ref need to yank Cat off of her, and I beat Cat."
Amanda Nunes recently defeated Megan Anderson via a first-round submission.