Getty Image / Jeff Bottari
Amanda Nunes put on a magnificent show at UFC 289 then announced her retirement while at the top of her game.
It was cool to see her celebrate while on top, however, she made sure to leave a message for the future champions now that the belt is vacated.
Meanwhile, at least one person wasn’t happy to see Nunes retire, as rival Julianna Pena called her out.
During the postfight press conference a cheerful Amanda Nunes shot down any notions of coming back in two or three years to challenge the new champion.
Almost immediately, she claimed that the next champ will have a “fake belt.” Listen to her full explanation below, via MMA Junkies.
Amanda Nunes says the next person to hold her now-vacant UFC title will be "fake forever."
"Whoever gets the belt now is going to be just pretending to have it."#UFC289 | Full interview: https://t.co/Kj31NLTA5k pic.twitter.com/JWwe64vQfL
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) June 11, 2023
Meanwhile, the person who is most likely to receive a title shot for the vacant women’s bantamweight belt is Julianna Pena, who defeated Nunes as a massive underdog.
She took to Twitter to react to Nunes retiring, claiming that the greatest women’s fighter of all time is ducking her. She sent three tweets that illustrated her opinion about Nunes.
Here’s Pena’s first reaction to Amanda Nunes retiring.
I’ll take that as a compliment #ufc289 @ufc
— Julianna Peña (@VenezuelanVixen) June 11, 2023
Then, things got a little weird.
I scared you so bad into retirement. Personally, Congratulations. Professionally, wtf was that? #UFC289
— Julianna Peña (@VenezuelanVixen) June 11, 2023
Then, Pena called what is arguably the most dominant performance we’ve seen in combat sports history a “snoozefest.”
Canadians don’t boo, they just walked out quietly before The fight was over #ufc289 #snoozefest #terrible #stinker #ducking
— Julianna Peña (@VenezuelanVixen) June 11, 2023
Yeah. So, clearly Julianna Pena didn’t like seeing Amanda Nunes retire. She was probably hoping for a trilogy fight, but it appears she won’t get it.
Additionally, Pena got torched by fight fans for her components online.
— Josh (@JUchiha909) June 11, 2023
It’ll be interesting to see who ends up taking over as the women’s bantamweight champion. Pena should definitely be in the running.
If she does win the belt, grab the popcorn, because Amanda Nunes may have a word or two about it.