UFC

Amanda Nunes reclaims bantamweight championship against Julianna Pena at UFC 277

By Sports Desk July 31, 2022

Amanda Nunes completely dominated in her bantamweight championship rematch against Julianna Pena at UFC 277 on Saturday, reclaiming the title she lost back in December.

Nunes, 34, was considered arguably the most dominant woman in the history of mixed martial arts heading into that December showdown, which resulted in a shock upset loss – her first defeat since 2015.

The Brazilian appeared slow and off her game that night, but any hopes from Pena's camp that it would be a similar showing the second time around were dispelled early.

Nunes dominated from the first bell to the last, with three clean knockdowns in the second round alone as it appeared a knockout finish was inevitable.

To Pena's credit, the champion did not have an ounce of quit in her, somehow surviving the entire 25 minutes to lose in emphatic fashion on the judges' scorecards 50-45, 50-44 and 50-43.

Earlier in the night in the co-main event, Mexico's Brandon Moreno won the interim flyweight title with a third-round body-shot knockout against New Zealand's Kai Kara-France in the Fight of the Night.

The first two rounds were closely contested, with Kara-France favouring a leg-kick heavy attack while Moreno was landing the cleaner shots to the head.

All three judges disagreed on how to score the first two rounds, with one judge having it Moreno 2-0, another with Kara-France 2-0 and the third had things tied at 1-1.

But the judges were not needed after Moreno connected with a body kick in the third, digging his toes into the stomach of Kara-France, dropping him before finishing the fight with ground-and-pound.

With the win, Moreno has earned another shot at Deiveson Figueiredo. The pair have fought three times for the title to this point, with a draw in the first contest, followed by a Moreno win, before Figueiredo won the third bout.

'Moreno v Figuiredo IV' promises to be one of the most anticipated fights of the year, with two of their previous three contests winning Fight of the Night on their respective cards.

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