"You can not be at that tippy-top of a division forever" - Paul Felder likens Amanda Nunes to Anderson Silva and Jose Aldo, says she may find it difficult to find her way back to the top
Paul Felder recently compared Amanda Nunes to fellow MMA legends like former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo.
The retired UFC fighter alluded to how Silva and Aldo were incredibly dominant in their respective primes. Furthermore, Felder subtly harked back to when the duo were beaten in the UFC, ending their dominance in the octagon.
Felder insinuated that once they were beaten, they struggled to reclaim their former glory. While Silva was released from the UFC in late 2020, Aldo is a ranked competitor in the UFC bantamweight division.
One of the biggest shocks in the history of the sport! 🤯
Julianna Peña submitted Amanda Nunes and shook up the world! 🏆
#UFC269
https://t.co/ITDFIq81ij
Meanwhile, longtime UFC women’s bantamweight and featherweight champion Amanda Nunes lost her 135lbs title via second-round submission to Julianna Pena last December. Nunes still holds the featherweight title and is set to face Pena in a bantamweight title rematch at UFC 277 on July 30.
In the UFC 277 Predictions video on the UFC’s YouTube channel, Paul Felder and UFC welterweight Michael Chiesa addressed the upcoming Pena-Nunes rematch. Felder opined that, similar to Silva and Aldo, Nunes might be unable to work her way back to the top. Noting that Pena may have exposed a chink in Nunes’ armor, 'The Irish Dragon' stated:
“She [Nunes] has been the champion for a long time. That doesn’t take away any of what she’s done, any of the accolades. She still may be the best. We’ll find out on this pay-per-view. But sometimes, it’s just – I mean, it’s happened to Anderson Silva, Jose Aldo. All these guys, they take a step down. Now, Jose’s kind of worked his way back. But we see it time and time again, man. You cannot be at that tippy-top of a division forever.”
Watch Felder discuss the topic at 20:00 in the video below:
Israel Adesanya on the Julianna Pena vs. Amanda Nunes rematch at UFC 277
Amanda Nunes’ loss to Julianna Pena is regarded by many as one of the biggest upsets in MMA history. Echoing similar sentiments, reigning UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya recently indicated that the first fight truly was an upset.
'The Last Stylebender' revealed that he’d bet on ‘The Lioness’ to beat Julianna Pena in their rematch. In a video posted to his FREESTYLEBENDER YouTube channel, Adesanya acknowledged that anything could happen in the rematch while standing by his belief that Nunes is likelier to emerge victorious:
"If I was a betting man with my million dollars on this fight, I would go to Amanda Nunes. I'll go KO as well. I think Julianna might take a beating. But I don't know, maybe. Who knows? She might give homegirl PTSD."
Watch Adesanya’s assessment below: