Amanda Nunes (-670) is the heavy favorite to beat Julianna Pena (+430) at UFC 289: Nunes vs. Peña 3. A fight that was first scheduled over a year ago, and now finally taking place on July 10th.
Nunes (20-4 MMA, 13-1 UFC), who has held the bantamweight title since 2016, is coming off her fifth consecutive title defense in which she crushed former featherweight champion Germaine de Randamie in December of 2020 via TKO in round one. She’s looking for another successful defense of her belt against Pena (10-4 MMA, 6-2 UFC).
Despite being an underdog with some impressive credentials herself, it’s hard to look beyond Nunes as the ultimate victor here as she goes into this bout with an impeccable run of form that includes seven wins from her last eight fights – six of them ending inside the distance – only losing out to Valentina Shevchenko via decision back in 2017. As well as brimming with confidence having so recently had such a decisive win over de Randamie and coupled with reports that ‘The Lioness’ has been relentless during training prepping for this fight it looks like Pena may have bitten off more than she can chew this time around.
In comparison 28 year old Pena has failed to replicate earlier dominant performances since returning from an ACL injury suffered back in 2018 when she was forced off a card just moments before walking out due to healing problems following reconstructive surgery; these issues have continued to plague her performance ever since and currently sits at 2-1 going into next month’s match up having defeated Nicco Montano at UFC Fight Night 184 but never fully capitalizing on any victory thereafter despite winning both judges scores 29–28 across all three rounds against Sijara Eubanks at June 2019’s event which ultimately ended in a split draw decision due largely in part because of two point deductions awarded by referee Marc Goddard due to illegal elbows thrown by ‘The Venezuelan Vixen’. This means that although Julianna does possess considerable talent and potential should Amanda slip up or make mistakes then there is always hope for ‘The Venezuelan Vixen’ playing spoiler and upsetting what appears now almost certain outcome come July 10th .
Overall I believe Amanda Nunes will be too much for Julianna Pena and while we rarely see such heavy favourites going into bouts I think even if it ends up being less convincing than originally expected it will still result ultimately end up proving why this matchup was made what appears on paper anyone other than fan favourite Amanda taking home gold come July 2021 would be nothing short of shocking surprise given recent form displayed by both fighters leading up until then..
