Conor McGregor has compared Amanda Nunes and Julianna Pena’s UFC clashes to his own bouts with Nate Diaz, noting a ‘mad similarity’.
Nunes outpointed Pena in the UFC 277 main event on Saturday, avenging a submission loss to the American from December. As a result, featherweight champion Nunes regained the women’s bantamweight belt from Pena, whose second-round title win over the Brazilian last year was deemed one of the biggest upsets in MMA history.
In 2016, Diaz shocked the world by submitting McGregor in the second round of a welterweight contest, before the Irishman won the pair’s rematch on points five months later.
“It’s mad to me, the similarity of [the Nunes vs Pena rematch] to the McGregor-Diaz fights,” McGregor said in a Twitter voice post.
“Fight No 1, the highly touted, the GOAT of the sport – me, Amanda Nunes... just sheer toughness, willingness to fight, and caught off guard. Gives a couple of shots, then eats a couple of shots, then the tide turns, then gets choked.
“Now the return, the rematch. Confidence on the other side, tenacity, toughness – all that still there. More focused work on Amanda Nunes’ side, my side.
“At the end of the original bout, [Diaz says]: ‘I’m not surprised, motherf******.’ And then again: ‘I’m not surprised, motherf******,’ Julianna says it.
“And then, the fight goes the exact same way in the second fight. [Pena and Diaz] dropped multiple times, [Nunes and I] just better prepared, cracks the shots, gets the drop multiple times. But then the toughness is still there; [Pena] still in Amanda’s face, [Diaz] still in my face.
“Some fights, they’re iconic mixed martial arts bouts that we’re all lucky to witness.”
A trilogy bout between Nunes and Pena could be on the cards next. A third fight between McGregor and Diaz had long been called for by fans, but the American has one contest left on his UFC contract and is scheduled to fight Khamzat Chimaev this September.
Meanwhile, McGregor is still recovering from a broken leg that he sustained during his most recent fight, a loss to Dustin Poirier in July 2021. The former dual-weight champion is expected back in the Octagon in early 2022 at the earliest.
