Coming off of one of the biggest upset losses in UFC history, the now-former Bantamweight Champion surprised everyone when she didn’t perform as expected against Julianna Peña.
In the fight, Nunes dominated the first round as expected, but apparently gassed in the second round of the fight. This allowed Julianna Peña to capitalize on the moment and submit the then double-champion.
PENA UPSETS NUNES ?#UFC269
(via @UFC)pic.twitter.com/juxX9c13dR
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 12, 2021
In an interview with Brett Okamoto on ESPN, Nunes attributed her poor cardio to getting COVID before her fight.
“Look back to my whole camp for this fight. Of course, it was a mess.”
“And I always wanna put in my head that it was okay, I can do this. We wanna go through whatever, to step in the cage,” Nunes told ESPN.
“My first fight against her fell through. I got COVID.”
“And in my second fight with her, that can’t be like [that]”
About postponing the fight again for medical reasons, Nunes said:
“I went through a couple of issues as well that will always show up at the gym. But like I didn’t wanna let that fight go again.”
“I don’t think it would look good for me. That was I feel like my big mistake.” Nunes completed.
“For that, I don’t wanna look bad, you know. As I let that fight go once again… I did pay for it, I pay for my big mistake. I am supposed to listen to the doctor. I am supposed to listen to my body.”
According to the former Bantamweight and current Featherweight champion, COVID wasn’t the only medical issue that made Nunes unable to perform at her best.
‘The Lioness’ also revealed that she had issues with both of her knees and that her condition was so bad that she wasn’t able to walk properly after training sessions.
“Both my knees were pretty bad… I went through like every time that I training back home and then the next day I didn’t even walk.”
“I don’t wanna make excuses. You know, it’s not like I did that, you know, I pay for my mistakes but like I wanna do a full camp and I didn’t,” Nunes told ESPN.
Nunes is now scheduled to be a trainer at the UFC’s reality show ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ against her rival Juliana Pena.
Julianna Peña and Amanda Nunes face off ahead of their Ultimate Fighter season and upcoming rematch. pic.twitter.com/tlsCGWB2Ji
— The Mac Life (@TheMacLife) February 7, 2022
At the end of the season, Nunes will get her rematch and a chance to regain her title.a