mma / News

Julianna Pena Wants a Title Shot – Thinks Amanda Nunes is Ducking Her

July 26, 2016 | Posted by Larry Csonka

– Julianna Pena recently appeared on The MMA Hour, here are the highlights…

On Wanting a Title Shot: “It is annoying. It’s annoying and it’s embarrassing. I feel like I shouldn’t have to do this song and dance and shout off of the rooftops like a wild, screaming banshee being like, ‘gimme my title shot!’ Holly [Holm] beat the oldest lady in the division, Marion Reneau. She beat like two old ladies, then she fought to a draw, which was like a coin flip as to who won the fight, [Raquel] Pennington or Holly, and she gets a title shot out of thin air. Bethe Correia beat Shayna Baszler, who didn’t get past me on The Ultimate Fighter and she gets a title shot just by waving her hands, you know. Miesha [Tate] got her second title shot after being 1-0, against Ronda [Rousey], after she beat Jessica Eye she got another title shot to campaign against Holly. I beat Jessica Eye, nothing happens. I beat Shayna Baszler, nothing happens, and Shayna Baszler was in the top 10 back then. I keep beating these people that other people have beat and they get title shots, and I don’t get title shots, it is annoying. But I know that in anything in life you’ve got to work hard and you’ve got to work for stuff. If I want this I just have to keep working, and that’s what I plan on doing.”

On Rousey’s Loss Opening Up The Division: “Just because Ronda’s been a one-trick pony who’s kind of been being able to rack up all these wins and being so dominant. I knew the second that she would lose it would be more of an open division for the rest of us and once she was exposed, that it would be a lot harder for her to first off get back in there, and second off get back in there and win her belt back. I think it’s good for the other girls to finally show the world that there are other 135-pound women out there other than Ronda Rousey.”

On Amanda Nunes Ducking Her: “I don’t know how many more times I can prove myself,” she said. “You know, when I was on The Ultimate Fighter it was just Ronda and Miesha winning back then, while I was winning on The Ultimate Fighter. When The Ultimate Fighter got out, Ronda was still winning and then I got injured, and then when I came back I was still winning. I’ve been winning this whole entire time. I’ve been winning since I stepping foot in the UFC Octagon. I’ve been consistently winning since stepping on the show. I don’t know how much more I can improve myself. “I think that that’s pretty funny. It just sounds like [Nunes]’s ducking the both of us, because she’s just had gotten a fight with Valentina, she knows what she’s working with. And she knows that I’m just getting warmed up and a five-round fight with me would be atrocious. She knows I’m going to stand right there in the pocket with her and throw blows. So I definitely don’t think that she welcomes that, and she’s kind of biding her time as much as she can.”