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Julianna Peña dethroned Amanda Nunes to become the women's bantamweight champion in the co-main event of UFC 269. 'The Venezuelan Vixen' was recently asked about a potential matchup against Nunes' teammate Kayla Harrison.
According to Julianna Peña, the Olympic gold medallist Judoka is an "understudy of Amanda Nunes". She also emphasized the fact that Kayla Harrison is still fighting in the "feeder leagues", while she recently won UFC gold.
'The Venezuelan Vixen' also stated that she would only think about Harrison once a potential matchup seems possible, and right now it doesn't. Julianna Peña also confirmed that her main focus is on rematching 'The Lioness', saying:
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"I am pretty sure that Kayla Harrison, you know, is the understudy of Amanda Nunes. And Kayla Harrison has been fighting in these B-Leagues. I'm fighting in the UFC, I'm fighting the top competition. If she wants to come in and make weight and fight in my weight class, I'll welcome that. But right now my main priority and main focus is gonna be rematching Amanda."
Listen to Julianna Pena on The Jim Rome Show below:
Kayla Harrison on Amanda Nunes' loss to Julianna Peña
Julianna Peña went in as a massive underdog into her title fight against Amanda Nunes at UFC 269 earlier this December. Peña submitted Nunes in the second round, causing probably the greatest upset in UFC history.
However, Nunes' teammate Kayla Harrison believes that 'The Lioness' beats Julianna Peña nine out of ten times, and the fight was out of character for Nunes. 'Heartbroken' by her friend's loss, Harrison told TMZ Sports:
“Yeah, I mean I was heartbroken obviously for my teammate and my friend, you know I have a lot of respect for Amanda, I helped her train, I’ve trained with her, she’s helped me you know we are teammates. I would consider her a friend so first and foremost I was heartbroken for her. I still think that if they fought ten times nine times out of ten Amanda starches her. You know but sometimes it’s just not your night. No matter what you do, no matter how hard you prepare, no matter how good you feel or how confident you are sometimes things just don’t go your way and that’s the craziness of this sport, that’s the brutality of it.”
Prior to the bout, there were rumblings of the two teammates squaring off if Harrison signed to the UFC. However, with Nunes' recent loss, there's no indication if the Judoka will sign with the UFC or elsewhere.
Watch Kayla Harrison's interview with TMZ Sports below:
