Dana White: Julianna Pena vs. Amanda Nunes 2 will surpass Holly Holm vs. Ronda Rousey
There are plenty of rematches in the UFC pipeline for 2022, among them a women’s bantamweight title fight between new bantamweight champ Julianna Pena and former two-division champ Amanda Nunes.
UFC President Dana White has lofty expectations for the second fight, which follows Pena’s incredible upset earlier this month at UFC 269. The UFC exec even believes the fight will surpass another octagon classic.
“That rematch will be the biggest women’s fight of all time,” White said in an extended interview with ESPN.com.
The all-time women’s leader in box office heft right now is Ronda Rousey vs. Holly Holm, another historic upset. In 2015, Holm knocked out breakout star Rousey with a head kick to claim the bantamweight title.
Nunes later took the bantamweight belt from Miesha Tate, who captured the belt from Holm at UFC 196, and didn’t let it go for the next five years. In the process, the Brazilian also captured the featherweight title with a knockout of Cris Cyborg, becoming the first-ever two-division women’s champion.
White has called Nunes the GOAT of women’s MMA. The UFC executive has hedged on the future of the featherweight division, though Nunes said before her loss that she still intended to compete at 145 pounds and welcomed a showdown with PFL champ and Olympic gold medalist Kayla Harrison.
This past week, Pena signaled her willingness to do an immediate rematch with Nunes, who subsequently accepted the offer.
Check out White’s full interview below.
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