DALLAS – UFC president Dana White says Julianna Pena needs to prioritize her health in the aftermath of a “completely dominant” title-fight loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 277.
Peña (11-5 MMA, 7-3 UFC) fell short in her highly anticipated main event rematch with Nunes (22-5 MMA, 15-2 UFC) on Saturday at American Airlines Center in Dallas when she surrendered the women’s bantamweight title by lopsided unanimous decision. She was knocked down three times and badly cut open on the forehead by “The Lioness” over the course of five rounds, but fought hard until the bitter end.
The damage was apparent, though, and White said post-fight that Peña was immediately transported to a plastic surgeon, and he’s not certain about her future going forward.
“Julianna’s got a big chunk missing from her forehead,” White told MMA Junkie and other reporters at the UFC 277 post-fight news conference. “She’s going to see a plastic surgeon right now. (She’ll) take some time to heal, and then I don’t know. She got pretty banged up tonight. It was like five or six knockdowns in the first two rounds. She was hurt. She needs to take some time off, relax, spend some time with her daughter and then we’ll go from there.”
Although Peña’s resilience and determination in the fight was admirable, White said there wasn’t much else redeeming about it, and it was Nunes’ night.
“I thought it was completely dominant,” White said. “There was five knockdowns in the first two rounds. There’s a big difference between submission attempts and knockdowns. They’re not even comparable. Julianna’s tough as nails and her will to win is second-to-none. She wanted to win. I think as dominant as Amanda was – and she was dominant tonight – I didn’t think it was close in any way, shape or form. It was a complete shutout.”
