Comment Seven months ago, after losing her bantamweight belt in a stunning loss to Julianna Peña, Amanda Nunes made some serious changes. She left the American Top Team gym where she had trained for a long time, moving to a private gym she calls “Lioness Studio” and trains under Roger Krahl. He was in her corner for some of her biggest fights, including the one in which she knocked out Ronda Rousey. On Saturday night at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, the moves paid off as Nunes regained the UFC bantamweight title she lost to Peña in December, taking a unanimous decision (50-45, 50-44, 50-43) in main event of UFC 277 and claiming a piece of MMA history. “The lioness, if they don’t get the prey the first time, I set the traps better and I know I would get it the second time,” Nunes said afterward as she held her young daughter in the ring. Nunes, whose 15 UFC wins are the most in promotional history, won her 10th title fight — the most by a woman in UFC history and the fifth most overall. Nunes left Pena bloodied as she struggled to prevent Nunes from switching to a southpaw stance, right hand and leg forward, and then led with right jabs followed by a left cross right hook. That, along with wrestling technique in later rounds, was key, he said. Gary Antoine Russell triumphs in the first race after the death of his father “The main thing was my southpaw,” Nunes said. “I know I’d catch her with that tonight. I knew he wouldn’t be able to adjust to it. He is not aggressive. … She was so confused. I’m still not very good with my southpaw. I told my coach, “I’ll see how I feel.” I tried tonight and it felt good.” Using the stance, Nunes (22-5 MMA, 15-2 UFC) dropped Peña (11-5, 7-3) several times early on, then took Peña down with her grappling moves. She dropped Peña three times in the second round, a UFC women’s record for knockdowns in one round, according to ESPN Stats & Information. He outscored Peña 85-60 in significant hits and took her down six times on eight attempts. After the fight, Peña went to get medical attention for cuts on his face, according to UFC president Dana White. “Jiuliana has a big chunk missing from her forehead,” he said at the UFC 277 post-fight press conference. “He’s going to see a plastic surgeon right now, he’s going to take some time to heal and then I don’t know. She was beaten quite a bit 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.” Nunes became the first to win back the UFC bantamweight title after losing it, but it came at a cost. Her right eye was swollen shut and she used crutches to walk to the post-match press conference. “I thought it was completely dominant,” White said. “There were five knockdowns in the first two rounds. There is a big difference between submission attempts and knockdowns. They are not even comparable. Juliana’s toughness and will to win is unmatched. He wanted to win. I think as dominant as Amanda was – and she was dominant tonight – I didn’t think she was close in any way, shape or form. It was a complete shutdown.” Nunes, who plans to get some rest and visit family in Brazil she hasn’t seen in years because of the coronavirus pandemic, called it “the best day ever” and added that “the best thing I did was make the my gym. At my gym, I feel safe. I feel like I can grow and develop.”
