Amanda Nunes says injuries to both knees played role in loss to Julianna Peña: ‘It cost me my belt’

Amanda Nunes says she wasn’t physically 100 percent going into her title fight with Julianna Pena.

Nunes was submitted by Peña in the second round at UFC 269 in December, losing her bantamweight title in a shocking upset. After getting controlled in Round 1, Peña was able to pour it on Nunes, eventually getting her to the ground for the submission.

But Nunes revealed that she didn’t enter the fight healthy, which she thinks is partially to blame for the outcome.

“My whole camp for this fight was a mess,” Nunes told ESPN. “I always want to put in my head I was OK, I can do this because we are like that. We want to go through whatever to step in the cage, and my first fight against her fell through. I got COVID, so all those things and in my second fight with her, the camp I went through a couple of issues, as well, that I knew I wasn’t going to be able to really show up to the gym every day at 100 percent. But I didn’t want to let that fight go again. I don’t think it would have looked good for me.”

She continued, “I paid for it. I paid for my mistakes. I was supposed to listen to the doctors, I was supposed to listen to my body and show up how I always do, 100 percent in the gym, full camp, and it was obvious in the fight (that I wasn’t 100 percent). I really showed how my camp was, and I feel like I paid for it.”

Nunes (21-3, 14-3 UFC) said injuries to both knees forced her to adjust her training camp, but she insists that cardio was not the reason why Peña (11-4 MMA, 7-2 UFC) was able to take over in the second round.

“Both knees were pretty bad, and I wasn’t able to recover, and I went through,” Nunes said. “Every time I was training back home and the next day I couldn’t even walk, but I don’t want to make excuses. I did that. I paid for my mistakes, but I want to do a full camp, and I didn’t. … I needed time off. I couldn’t turn, do all the things that I have to do, like do jiu-jitsu that much, wrestling. I was pretty much only doing hands like striking or whatever I did for conditioning. I only used my arms, so that cost me my belt.”

She continued, “In the beginning of the second round, I got caught. I watched the fight back, and I told Nina (Ansaroff) I never got caught before, so I never felt (it). I didn’t know how it is, so when I watched the fight back, I saw that she (Peña) did a Superman punch, which looked like a jumping overhand, something like that, so it got right here (points to left side) on my head. After that moment, you can see clearly that I lost my balance and everything started to look really bad. So a lot of people say my conditioning. No, when you get caught, you feel (something) you’ve never experienced in the gym or whatever. Getting caught you don’t know how you’re supposed to feel or handle that moment, so when I felt it, I wasn’t able to recover and everything started getting worse.”

Nunes and Peña are slated to run it back later this year after their season as coaches on “The Ultimate Fighter” airs. The show is set to debut May 8 on ESPN+.

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