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UFC women's bantamweight champion, Amanda Nunes, has responded to Julianna Pena's call-out at UFC 257.
Ranked No. 7 at the women's bantamweight ranking, Pena challenged the current division's champion for a title fight and claimed that Nunes ducked her, after submitting Sarah McMann with a rear-naked choke at one of the preliminary card bouts at UFC 257.
Nunes shot back, mocking Pena's call-out and claiming that she failed to win two bouts that could have had positioned her for the title fight with "The Lioness." The first, in 2017 against Valentina Shevchenko, and the most recent in 2020, against Germaine de Randamie.
"Ducking? You couldn't even make yourself a contender for me, Julianna Pena," tweeted Nunes.
No. 5 UFC women's strawweight contender Nina Ansaroff answered Nunes' sharp reply to Pena after the call-out at UFC 257 by remembering that the promotion had a fight planned between the two. However, it never panned out since Pena failed in passing through higher-ranked opponents before reaching Nunes.
Currently holding both UFC women's featherweight and bantamweight titles, Nunes will make her second featherweight title defense against Megan Anderson on UFC 259, scheduled to take place on March 6.
Julianna Pena's call-out to Amanda Nunes at UFC 257
After looking like she could suffer her third loss in the UFC, Julianna Pena made an excellent recovery to add another win to her record by submitting Sarah McMann in the first round of their bout at UFC 257.
Pena displayed her stellar grappling skills by taking McMann down and slowly crawling to a position where she could apply a rear-naked choke that finished the fight.
However, the highlight came at her post-fight interview with a call-out to UFC women's double-champion Amanda Nunes:
"I feel amazing. It played exactly how I thought it was. I just beat the best wrestler in the division," said Pena. "Amanda Nunes, I want to fight you. It's time for her to quit ducking."
