Julianna Peña believed. She might have been the just one.
Peña got in Saturday evening's UFC 269 co-main occasion as a 6 1/2- to-1 betting underdog against Amanda Nunes, and that could suggest with that? She was up against the best competitor in the background of females's MMA, and a two-division champion.
Amanda Nunes strolled into T-Mobile Sector in Las Vegas to safeguard her bantamweight championship. Now Nunes just has the lightweight title.
Peña did specifically what she had been claiming she would certainly perform in the leadup to this bantamweight title battle. She stated she would certainly go right at Nunes. She said she would certainly make Nunes quit.
To several, including this onlooker, Peña's words sounded like only empty bluster. The 32-year-old from Spokane, Washington was just 1-1 in her last two fights, and as recently as 2020 had been choked out by a kickboxer. What danger could she possibly posture to Nunes, the No. 1 boxer in the ESPN ladies's pound-for-pound positions and a victor of 12 straight battles, in a run of success that prolongs completely back to 2015? I was not alone in casting this title round as an inequality.
And it began resembling one. Peña did step forward, as she stated she would, however throughout the preliminary Nunes beat her to the punch over and over. Nunes took Peña to the canvas midway via the round as well as controlled her there. It was looking like an additional day at the office for the GOAT.
After that it had not been. Round 2 started with Peñan once more coming forward, yet this moment her jabs were landing. So was the occasional right-hand man. Nunes was returning fire, but without her typical accuracy. The champ was loading up with power, but she missed over and over, and all that did was tire her out.
By the middle of the round, the safeguarding champ looked to be fading, and that only inspired the opposition. After supporting Nunes with her strikes, Peña took the fight to the canvas and also quickly locked in a rear-naked choke. Nunes rapidly tapped.
And also brand-new!
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| Amanda The Lioness Nunes Champion Fighter Art T-Shirt |
Shocker of all shockers.
This was the greatest upset in MMA history. I recognize, the betting chances do not quite align with that said claim-- Peña was practically the fourth-biggest underdog ever to win a title battle-- however consider the sporting activity's previous big surprises.
Purely by the numbers, the greatest MMA trouble was Holly Holm's 2015 ko of Ronda Rousey. That was a surprise, too, considering that Rousey was unbeaten and also had completed her 4 latest previous opponents in 66, 16, 14 and 34 secs. Rousey was as leading a force as the sporting activity has actually ever before seen. Yet Holm had been a three-division world champ in boxing. Her resume back then far outshined what Peña brought into Saturday's battle.
Much the same could be said of Matt Serra, that was a +850 underdog on the night in 2007 when he knocked senseless the excellent Georges St-Pierre. Serra could not stand head and also shoulders above Peña in terms of MMA accomplishments, but the GSP he defeated that night was a brand new champion still young in the game.
Nunes, by comparison, has actually long been entrenched at the top of the sport. She had actually not lost a fight since 2014, and also she possesses victories over all the best in ladies's MMA history. Rousey. Holm. Cris Cyborg. Valentina Shevchenko, twice. Not a soul in the world would have challenged the 33-year-old Brazilian's claim as the GOAT.
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| Amanda Nunes T-Shirts |
So when Nunes feebly touched bent on the choke at 3:26 of Round 2, T-Mobile Field emerged with the sort of sound made by followers who have actually simply witnessed history. Unlikely history.
Unlikely to us, without a doubt, yet not improbable to Julianna Peña.
" I'm not amazed, motherf-- ers!" Peña said loudly when the microphone was put in front of her afterward inside the cage. She was quoting what Nate Diaz had actually claimed, much to the entertainment of the followers, after he choked out Conor McGregor in 2016. The crowd barked in appreciation for Peña's address too.
Few, if any kind of, in that group believed Peña had what it took to beat Nunes. Yet her belief in herself brought Peña to a minute that will go down in the record of UFC background.
" I told you," included Peña. "Do not ever doubt me once more. Self-discipline, toughness as well as resolution, it will certainly take you locations."
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