"You let Ronda Rousey cut the line" - Julianna Pena blasts Amanda Nunes for ducking her after bantamweight title win against Miesha Tate
Julianna Pena will finally get a chance to fight for the UFC women's bantamweight title against Amanda Nunes on Saturday. However, 'The Venezuelan Vixen' believes she should've fought Nunes a long time ago, but the champion ducked her instead.
Things got heated between Nunes and Pena when the challenger accused the champion of avoiding her and choosing to fight Ronda Rousey instead. During the UFC 269 pre-fight press conference, Pena said:
"We've been talking about this fight for a very long time and at UFC 200, when she beat Miesha [Tate], she said that she would fight me and she didn't. She let Ronda Rousey cut the line. I actually won and I beat the girl that ragdolled you as a matter of fact. I beat the girl that beat you that night and you said in the press conference that you would fight me and you absolutely did not fight me. You let Ronda Rousey cut the line after she got knocked out. So you picked a can and you've been continuing to pick cans and everybody you pick has already lost."
According to Julianna Pena, she deserved to fight Amanda Nunes for the title by virtue of beating Cat Zingano. Zingano is the only woman to hand 'The Lioness' a loss in the UFC.
Pena defeated Zingano at UFC 200, the same card where Nunes captured the 135-pound belt against then-champion Miesha Tate.
Check out the heated back-and-forth between Julianna Pena and Amanda Nunes below:
"When she beat Miesha [Tate], she said that she would fight me and she didn't. She let Ronda Rousey cut the line."
@VenezuelanVixen says Amanda Nunes "picked a can" opponent after UFC 200 and has been "continuing to pick cans" 😳 #UFC269 https://t.co/vGPnsuwr5w
Amanda Nunes says 'clown' Julianna Pena will pay for her trash talk
Julianna Pena verbally attacked Amanda Nunes in the lead-up to their title fight at UFC 269. It's clear that the 'The Venezuelan Vixen' has gotten the attention of the champion, who appears to be annoyed by her comments.
At the UFC 269 pre-fight press conference, Nunes said:
"She’s a clown. [She] wants attention. That’s it. She’s delusional. What about her best friend Miesha Tate? What about Sara McMann? Sara McMann almost beat her. Sara McMann gave up in the fight. If she didn’t give up, she would have beat Julianna. But I beat Sara McMann years ago."
Watch Amanda Nunes talk about Julianna Pena at UFC 269 media day below:
UFC president Dana White also confirmed that the animosity between Nunes and Pena is legitimate. White told Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports that Pena's trash talk had resulted in 'The Lioness' wanting to "kill her."
Watch Dana White's interview with Kevin Iole below: