A rematch of one of the biggest upsets in mixed martial arts history takes place this weekend in Dallas, Texas, when Julianna Pena and Amanda Nunes share the Octagon for the second time. UFC 277 is a pay-per-view event and will stream exclusively on ESPN+.
Pena stunned fans when she secured a second-round submission victory against then-double champion Amanda Nunes at UFC 269 in December. Although she entered as a massive underdog on the night, Pena managed to walk through many of Nunes’ best shots and ended up trading heavy strikes in round two before eventually exhausting the champion and submitting her with a rear-naked choke.
It was a shocking end for Nunes’ reign as bantamweight champion as she seemingly ran out of options and ended up tapping to a rear-naked choke submission. She’ll get a chance to reclaim her title this weekend at UFC 277.
Read on for UFC fighter predictions for the Pena vs. Nunes rematch at UFC 277 and details about how to watch the fight live this Saturday night.
Watch UFC 277 Fight Card
- Date:Â Saturday, July 30
- Time:Â PPV Main Card starts at 10 pm ET, Prelims start at 6 pm ET
- Watch:Â
ESPN + PPV (order here)
UFC 277 is a PPV event, meaning fans must order UFC 277 on the ESPN+ website to watch every main card fight live, including the Pena vs. Nunes rematch. After ordering, fans can stream every UFC 277 fight to a preferred device, including TVs, mobiles, computers, laptops, tablets, and more.
Pena vs. Nunes II predictions
UFC fighters shared their predictions for Julianna Pena vs. Amanda Nunes II before the main event bout this weekend. Here’s what they said:
Jamahal Hill
“I’m to go with Amanda. I think Amanda took her too lightly the first time, didn’t take her seriously, and Julianna was all f—ing business.” (via James Lynch)
Adrian Yanez
“That first one, I definitely had Amanda Nunes winning, and Julianna Pena shocked me with that win. But man, I don’t know if I want to doubt her again or if I should pick her. I’m probably still going to learn toward Amanda.” (via James Lynch)
Jack Della Maddalena
“That’s a tough one. I reckon we’re going to see those two fight for a third time, so I reckon we’ll see Amanda Nunes win this one.” (via James Lynch)
Jasmine Jasudavicius
“I think that one is tough. I think Nunes is going to take it, though. I don’t know why but I believe in her. I think after a loss, you know, there’s a different type of hunger that sets in you, and I think that she’ll be victorious.” (via James Lynch)
Jeff Molina
“I’m interested to see how Nunes comes back from that type of performance she had. She looked awful. Not only did she look awful, but she quit, which isn’t the type of reaction you want to see from a world champ — that she quit blatantly. I wonder how she comes back from that. Again, I wonder what the odds are going to be for that fight, but I might lean Pena.” (via James Lynch)
Johnny Munoz Jr
“I think Nunes takes the rematch. I feel like she has a lot more to prove on this one. Not saying that the first one was a fluke, but I think sometimes, you see, with dominant champions, they tend to get complacent a little bit. Maybe a little comfortable. Life’s going good outside of fighting, so you lose that hunger or edge a little bit. But for the rematch, I think Nunes takes it.” (via James Lynch)
Josh Emmett
“I don’t know. She surprised me on that one. Julianna Pena is a great fighter, but I thought Nunes was the GOAT, so that surprised the hell out of me. I thought it’d be a real competitive fight, but then she got the win, so who knows what’s going on. It’s hard to pick but just from watching that fight, how well Pena did, I don’t know, styles make fights, I feel like I’d have to go with Pena again.” (via James Lynch)
Michelle Waterson
“I think it’ll really come down to where Amanda is, in her head space. Because, yeah, Nunes slowed down, but in my opinion, I think that Julianna had to get in her face to slow her down, but you know, sometimes people hit a breaking point. What happened was Nunes threw everything she had at Pena, and Pena just took it because she’s a dog. And then Nunes was like, dang, what else do I have? And then all her confidence and all of that started slowing down.
“And that’s just my opinion from the outside looking in. Who knows what was happening in Nunes’ personal life. That’s a hard thing for all of us to sit back and judge a fight because we don’t know what happened in their camp, what happened in their personal life, during fight week, during the cut, there are so many things. To secure a win on any given night, the stars absolutely have to be aligned.
“Nunes’ camp is absolutely going to have to address Pena’s reach and grit and figure out how to get around that. Her jab was money, man. Her punches were money. They might not have looked powerful, but you get touched enough, and they add up, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Maybe if they address that, then I think it’ll lead to an interesting fight. [I’ll pick] Pena.” (via James Lynch)
Bryan Barberena
“I think Nunes takes the rematch. I think it’ll be a close fight, but Nunes will come in refocused with a new game plan and everything.” (via James Lynch)
Dwight Grant
“I started watching and catching up on the TUF episodes yesterday, I’m going to go with Amanda Nunes. To me, she just is like the best ever, you know. Not just because she beat Ronda and Cyborg but her style and how confident she is in the pocket and coming out and coming in, there are moments where you watch certain fighters, like Fedor, you think about guys like that. When they’re going to fight, they just get tunnel vision, and I see that happened with Amanda Nunes, so I’m going with her.” (via James Lynch)
Neil Magny
“I think Pena wins it again and shocks the world for a second time. I think that Julianna Pena is at a different level right now in life with her training and mindset. She’ll be able to go out there and get the job done again.” (via James Lynch)
Jack Shore
“I think Pena is going to do it again. I saw Dana saying it in an interview, Amanda is a multi-millionaire, she’s been there and done it. She’s got family now, and I just don’t think that the hunger may be there like Pena has. Look at the last fight, it wasn’t like it was a fluke win, she had a lot of success, Amanda, but Pena just stuck in there and toughed it out and came on strong.
If I’m honest, I see this one going pretty much the same way. I think Amanda will come out a little bit more cautious, but ultimately, she has got that killer instinct, and when she starts throwing those bombs, she doesn’t want to let off. I think Pena is tough and durable, I think she catches her a little bit later on, probably this time. I don’t think Amanda will blow her gasket as early.” (via James Lynch)
Beneil Dariush
“I think Amanda feels the pressure of the weight cut at 135. I think if Julianna can do what she did last time, I think she’ll pull it off again. This time will be tougher because she might end up losing 2-3 rounds this time and then come out stronger, but she has to be ready for that. ” (via MMA Crazy)
Gilbert Burns
“I hope Amanda gets the win. But I don’t know. I think Julianna Pena got in her mind a little bit, especially with The Ultimate Fighter. I hope Amanda wins, but if I had to bet, I’d bet on Julianna. I think Julianna is going to win.” (via MMA Crazy)
Miesha Tate
“The only difference this time is that now the rest of the world knows she can win as well. She knew it, I knew it, her team knew it. She’s done it once before. So now everyone knows. (via MMA Crazy)
Brendan Allen
“I think it’s going to go the same way. Just as you saw in the first one, Julianna is going to put the pace on her and break her. I think she’s going to be able to do that.” (via MMA Crazy)
Holly Holm
“I think anything can happen with that fight. I think anytime anybody gets a little bit of that, how they prove to themselves… You know a lot of people say I want to prove to the world, this and that, but you also want to prove it to yourself and give you the strength to move forward. It could go the same way or the other way with Nunes not letting that happen again. I honestly think that the fight can go either way.” (via MMA Crazy)