This fight was going to end early and violently. The winner would then get on the mic with Joe Rogan in the cage and order up about 10 pounds of humble pie for their opponent.
The most satisfying feat in sports is when the proclaimed “Greatest Of All Time” (or “GOAT”) crashes and burns after everyone else had them pencilled in.
Pena stopped Nunes at 3:26 of the second round on Saturday night with a rear naked choke, but only after destroying the double-champion’s face with the simplest offense she could utilize.
Nunes (21-5-0) became anointed as the GOAT after knocking out Cris “Cyborg” Santos in under a minute at UFC 232 in December 2018. Nunes was already the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion (135 pounds) going in, becoming the first woman to be a dual champion in the history of the promotion.
Pena (12-4-0) was dropped twice by shots in the first round, one a slippage after a leg kick by Nunes. However, despite being muscled around on the mat for nearly two minutes of the opening round, Pena never panicked or faltered in her position, even trying to secure a kimura from the bottom. Nunes could be caught even looking confused while still having top position.
In the second round, Pena’s decision to stand in the pocket and try to turn the fight into a brawl with the woman who stopped Meisha Tate, Ronda Rousey and Cyborg with her fists may not have been the smartest idea. With both women having a 69-inch reach, the idea may not have been as far-fetched as you might believe. Nunes only had one inch in height over Pena.
Nunes and Pena were supposed to fight five years ago, right after Nunes won the title from Tate at UFC 200. Pena was completely on point when she said in Thursday’s press conference that Nunes allowed Rousey to jump the line as her next opponent. Rousey, the former GOAT, was coming off the first loss of her career.
Nunes stopped Rousey in just 48 seconds, which would be the last fight of the latter’s career. Rousey would jump to WWE for a year, before retiring altogether…at least for now.
In the aftermath of the Rousey fight, Nunes had a controversial split-decision win in her next fight against Valentina Shevchenko, where many argue the challenger had won. Then Nunes became the fighter that the UFC brought in competitors from Invicta FC to challenge. Before the Pena fight, Nunes’ last two fights were against former Invicta FC champions in Megan Anderson (UFC 259 - March 2021) and Felicia Spencer (UFC 250 - June 2020).
In the second round, every time Nunes tried to close the distance, Pena landed a perfect jab, stinging the champion. Pena lost her mouthguard after a shot from Nunes, with the referee taking just a few seconds to put it back in, not breaking the momentum for either fighter.
Nunes was out of gas by the time Pena landed four clean and consecutive jabs just past the midway point of the second round. After pushing Nunes to the cage, Pena scored an easy takedown, followed up almost immediately with the choke to end the fight.
Nunes may stop Pena in the rematch in dominating fashion, to where this could all be a bump in the road. Remember that George St. Pierre was upset by Matt Serra once upon a time, then ended up being the greatest middleweight in the history of the sport.
We marvelled when Chris Weidman stopped Anderson Silva…twice. We were stunned when Holly Holm stopped Rousey. What makes Pena’s victory even more impressive is the bad blood going in was vindicated by doing every single thing to Nunes she said she would.
-JC24