Julianna Peña says she is the greatest female MMA fighter of all time
Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Julianna Peña is making a bold claim following the recent retirement of champ-champ Amanda Nunes.
Nunes, who is widely considered to be the greatest female mixed martial artist of all-time, retired following a UFC 289 victory over bantamweight title contender Irene Aldana. With her retirement announcement, Nunes goes out with both titles in hand, obviously creating vacancies at 135-pounds and 145-pounds (should the UFC plan to keep the featherweight division).
While appearing The MMA Hour, Peña told MMA reporter Ariel Helwani that Nunes is not the one to be considered the greatest.
“The greatest female fighter of all time, according to me, is me,” Peña said. “You wanna know why? Because, I’m not a fighter, I’m a warrior. I’m a warrior that lives inside and that’s the difference.”
“Amanda’s (Nunes) a fighter, and I’m a warrior,” Julianna Peña explained. “I’m the greatest warrior and I’m the greatest fighter of all time. And I believe that with my heart, because I never stop coming. You’re gonna have to put me to sleep, or knock me the f*ck out, to get me to stop coming after you.”
“The Venezuelan Vixen” defeated Nunes by way of rear-naked choke for the bantamweight title in December 2021. Nunes then reclaimed the gold by way of unanimous decision seven months later.
