Julianna Pena explains 180-degree change of mind about Amanda Nunes trilogy and focusing on Kayla Harrison: "I don’t want to be stuck in the past"

Julianna Pena appears to have moved on from the rumored Amanda Nunes trilogy bout, as she is now expected to face Kayla Harrison in the first title defense of her second championship reign. Pena claimed that waiting for Nunes to come out of retirement is pointless and that she's targeting a "fresh" matchup.

Pena is reportedly set to face Harrison later this year. The reigning champion recently made an appearance on former UFC fighter and BKFC star Mike Perry's Overdogs Podcast and discussed her future, which seemingly doesn't include a trilogy fight with Nunes.

'The Venezuelan Vixen' said:

''Kayla Harrison absolutely, because that’s fresh, that’s current. I don’t want to be living in the past, I don’t want to be stuck in the past. I want to be moving forward and keep things pushing over here, and that’s Kayla Harrison. That’s the one that I have my eyes on. That’s my target, that’s my goal, and it would mean the most to me. And I’m not unfamiliar to this territory. I was an 11-to-1 underdog with Amanda Nunes, so 7-to-1 [against Harrison], that’s pretty good.”

Check out Julianna Pena's comments below (1:03:15):

Pena and Nunes met twice inside the octagon. In their first encounter at UFC 269 in 2021, 'The Venezuelan Vixen' captured the bantamweight title by securing a second-round submission win against Nunes in a shocking upset.

'The Lioness' then reclaimed her title in their rematch at UFC 277. The two were then set for a trilogy bout at UFC 289, but Pena suffered an injury, after which Nunes beat Irene Aldana and subsequently retired.

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Julianna Pena discusses being an underdog against Kayla Harrison

Julianna Pena recently commented on the opening odds for her title fight against Kayla Harrison, which is slated for later this year. The two-time champion is a massive underdog, but this doesn't faze her as she's been on the wrong end of the betting lines on numerous occasions.

In the same interview, she said:

''I think that one of the reasons why I’m a 7-1 underdog, or why I always get overlooked, or why people are always counting me out is maybe I’m not the most technically sound... I have always believed that I can, and when you have that mental toughness of I don’t care what you do, I’m still going to get up, and I’m still going to keep coming at you a million miles an hour.'' [54:02]