Julianna Pena on Beating Amanda Nunes

So in the beginning, like when I first met you today, rather, when I ran into you, first thing I was saying was like, are you still on cloud nine? Like what is this like? Like you, you know, it was Matt's era in GSP. That was like the biggest upset ever in the history of sport. But this is like, I think this is there or bigger. It might be bigger. Yeah. I mean, that wasn't my era. I'm in the new generation. This is my era. So of course to me, it's the biggest. But it was huge because Amanda was terrifying. Like everybody was scared of her and you were the one that wasn't scared of her. Yeah. No, you can't be. You're fighting like I know, but it's still it's like it's the way you did it. Yeah. Was so wild. Like while it was like DC DC. DC sent me a text. Are you laughing because you were counting me out the whole time? No, I'm laughing because DC sent me a text and in the video, your face. Very excited. I'm ready. DC sent me a text and it was a video of me and him doing commentary on your fight. He goes, bro, he goes, listen to us. We're just making weird noises because during the fight, he's like, oh, he's screaming like a little girl. It was wild. Yeah. It was fucking wild. You know, when you were standing toe to toe with her and smashing her with the jab in the middle of the octagon, we were like gripping each other. We were like, oh shit. Oh shit. You can't describe what that's like to watch because it's like you can't. It's hard to believe that it's happening. I felt like if you had a chance to beat her, it would be in a scramble. You would catch her and submit her in a grapple exchange, wear her down and submit her. But to see you standing in the middle of octagon and smashing her with a jab, it was like, ah, it was it was crazy. It was so wild to see. It was almost like the world changed. The whole world changed. Like what is not possible is now possible. Yes. Well, there's there's two things. First is there's styles. We've already talked about that styles makes fights. But I knew stylistically that I have the perfect style of fighting to beat her. And because there's for example, I'm not the type to run around the ring the whole time and do the points barring thing and go to the decision. It's like one of us is coming out of here and that's it. That's just the way that my fighting style is. I'm the type where it's like if there's a big puncher, the only way to meet that is meet fire with fire and I have to stand in the pocket. So I'm not the type of person to run away in the fight. I'm the type of person to meet that fire head on and match it with my own fire. And I knew that that was how I was going to win. And so that's pretty much all I did is just game plan that specific type of you're going to be in the pocket. You're going to have to meet this fire and you absolutely cannot shy away from it. Well, you said it leading up to the fight that you're going to drown her. Yeah. I mean, I've been calling for this fight for five years. Everyone's like, this girl's talking all this crap. She's this and she's that and getting upset at me. But I've been calling for this fight since I won Kat Zingano at UFC 200. She beat Misha that night. I beat Kat. Kat had just recently beat her and in the press conference, Amanda sang that I'm next. And then Rhonda got to cut the line and Rhonda had just gotten knocked out by Holly Holm. And instead of her having to fight somebody else, she got an immediate title shot and she got to cut the line. And I was like, that was my fight. The champ said that I was next. And so Rhonda came in, she got knocked out and then I got put to the back of the line again. But I was constantly saying, even when Rhonda was champ and I won the ultimate fighter, I kept saying, I want to fight Rhonda. I want to fight Rhonda. And they wouldn't give me that fight. But the fact that she knocked out Rhonda helped your fight, it really did when you finally got her. Yeah. Because she's a legend by then. True. Because before then she was super dangerous. She was very aware that Amanda was super fucking dangerous and a vicious knockout artist. But beating Rhonda the way she did put her on the world map. When she knocked her out in 48 seconds, everybody's like, holy fuck. And your fight with her was bigger because of all the delays. Because she achieved this goat status. Six years I think that she'd been unbeaten, just knocking people out for the last six years. And the fact that she knocked out Cyborg like that too. Incredible, right? And then you just stood right in the fucking pocket. Yeah. I know. And that's great. If I can get people emotionally invested in me, whether it's in my successes or in my losses, whatever it is, as long as you're watching and as long as you're gripping your seat at the end of your seat and freaking out, I want to invoke that emotion in people. And that's why I love fighting, I think, is because whether you're invested in the loss of the success, you're watching and you're feeling some type of way and your heart's going through your throat. And to get that reaction from people and to see the outpour of people reaching out to me and how I made them feel, it almost made me feel guilty in a sense. Really? Yeah, my dad lost 15 pounds. This guy's throwing up. People are putting... This guy's putting them pissed off that they lost all this money. And then there's people that are super happy, but the emotions of people close to me is seeing how much I put them through. I'm like, I'm sorry I did that to you guys. It makes me feel bad. I'm like, oh man, I'm really putting these people through the wringer. I feel guilty. That's hilarious. Well, listen, they're all invested now. After that fight, everybody's invested. That was one of the best fights I've ever seen. Thank you. In terms of what do you want out of a fight? You want to be completely immersed in it. The world goes away. All you're thinking about is what's happening right in front of you. And because of your effort, because of what you accomplished that night, you changed the way people think about what's possible and not possible. That's everything we want from a fight. Everything. You were the underdog. You came in. You were counted out by so many people. You fought the greatest of all time and you fucked her up. And the way you did it, the whole world, everybody that watched that was like, oh, I'm going to kill you. I was like, holy shit. The world is a different place now. Yeah. It just goes to show you how strong the mind is and how it's going to sound corny. But my mom always used to tell me, you can do anything you set your mind to. What is next? Do you think a rematch is next? Absolutely. There's still naysayers out there. There's still people that think it was a fluke. There's still people that are harassing me. There's still people that are being like, she's going to kill you. You know, there are like 10 seconds and you're dead. And so I just I would love nothing more than to put the naysayers to bed for one last time. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Now, have you guys started discussing when and if that can happen? Yes. And, you know, in my mind, in a perfect world. July 4th. Yeah. July 4th. Yes. Yes. I totally would love to find Vegas. Vegas card. In my mind, I would always want I have always wanted to anyway, since I was on the Ultimate Fighter, I would love to coach the Ultimate Fighter. I just you know, the last time that we were supposed to coach before this fight, she she decided not to do it. And so I'm just trying to coax her into doing it, you know, like, come on, let's coach the Ultimate Fighter and then we'll find July. It'll be perfect. That would be great. Yeah. So in a perfect world, that's how it would be for me. But I would anticipate sometime in the summer for the rematch. The Ultimate Fighter, what kind of a commitment is that? It's like a six week commitment. Yes. Something like that. It is like a six week commitment. So you just live in Vegas for six weeks? Yeah. Bring your kid. Yeah. Train there and then coach people. Yeah. Now, that is always like traditionally been a way that people have been able to like get rivalries really cooking. Yeah. Because then you're next to each other all the time for six weeks. It just bubbles up. Yeah. What do you think that's going to be like being around her for six weeks? You know, it's not a personal thing. It's not like I have anything against her personally. I think that she's great. And if I were to be on the show, I can pretty much guarantee you I'm not going to be pulling any shenanigans. If she pulled the shenanigans, then it's on. You know what I mean? But like I'm not out to be vicious or malicious or anything like that. But again, like I said, like if I get pushed in that direction, that's a different story. But yeah, I've seen like I think the Conor McGregor one where he was like poking at Uriah. It's just hilarious, epic. Well, how about when Rhonda was on with Misha? She beat her in a competition, jizzed her fingers, looked so angry. Oh, yeah. And I was right there next to her when they were at the Red Rock and Misha's like, she's like, you can't even throw punches. And Rhonda's like, she stormed off so angry. She went and got Edmund and they came back and like, I thought they were going to throw down right then and there, literally. Like it was it was awkward. Well, you get to see sides of people's personality when you see them on these exchanges with each other. Right. So it's like like you're like Blood Evans in Rampage. Yes, and like you a bitch, treat me like a bitch, you're a bitch, treat me like a bitch, like, like face-to-face with each other for like several seconds. Yeah, like say and then Yeah, or even like Vonderlay and Shell Sunday. Oh, that's a classic. Yeah, they straight-up fought. Yeah, yeah. That's a classic. I would hope like you know that that wouldn't be the case. You know, like, let's be adults about this. But then that's the flip side. It's like we're trying to sell the fight, right? trying to make people invested and make sure that they watch the fight. So it's like, how can it be this epic season of the ultimate fighter without that kind of chaos? But it's like, Amanda's not that kind of person. And I'm not either. Yeah, I don't think it has to be that way. The fight is going to be giant no matter what. When you guys have a rematch, holy shit, God, it better be in North America. The other thing that was interesting about that fight was her last two fights before that, Megan Anderson and Cyborg. Was it Megan Anderson and Cyborg? Were they back to back? I think so in the 45 division, yeah. So both of her fights were at 45. She hadn't defended 35 in quite a while, right? Two years, yeah. So making that extra 10 pounds is probably a big deal. She looked very lean at the weigh-ins, leaner than you ever see her before. Lean and she showed up all half naked and she was ready to go. She was in the best shape of her life it looked like. She looked ripped. Yeah, she looked ripped. Oftentimes when people haven't cut weight and then they have to, you see there's a difference in the way your body bounces back from that. Yeah, well her focus in her camp was two fights. I got to make weight and then I got to worry about Juliana. My focus was all I have to do is worry about Amanda. That's it. That was my only fight. That was my sole focus. Her sole focus is I got to be miserable for the next three months because I got to make weight and make sure that I'm up to par. And me, I've been grinding the whole time so I was like all I got to focus on is just her. And everybody was aware of the Kayla fight. Everybody was aware that Kayla was in the audience and they were trying to set that fight up. And how dare they, right? Because Kayla is like talking about how she's training partners with Amanda and how she learns so much from Amanda and how amazing Amanda is as a training partner and how she has just learned so much from the champ. And so I'm so confused because you want Amanda to win so that you can fight your friend? Well they just want to get paid. Yeah. Well she's getting paid more than I am at the making the millions over there at the PFL. I think the idea was that, and I'm just guessing, that Amanda, you know, this worldwide recognition is the greatest women fighter of all time. And then you get, if she beat you, then you get this giant super fight with this Olympic judo medalist who seems like, you know, when you look at Kayla, she seems like a threat. Like you go, okay, well Amanda's just like super strong, like really good grappler, knockout puncher. Kayla is such an elite judoka. She's so good. And she's so fucking strong. You think, oh, that could be a giant super fight. Yeah. And I think they probably thought if she came over to the UFC, they would have like the biggest female fight of all time. Yeah. Well, I really messed that up, didn't I? You fucked that thing up good. Who needs friends with, who needs enemies with friends like these, you know, especially with Kayla and Amanda being like training partners and like hugging each other and now they're going to fight each other. Like, come on, like ridiculous. But if Kayla wants to come over to the UFC and make weight, let's pack your lunch, chick. Make 35, you mean? 35, 45, whatever you guys want to do. You're a fighter at 45? Yeah. I mean, all I can say, like we already established, if it don't make money, it don't make sense. And what's the job of a fighter, especially with the window being this small and your opportunity being this small, I got to jump through a window this little. My job is to make as much money as possible. So pay me. I'll fight whoever you, I'll fight Fedor. Pay me. Just pay me. I hear you. You know, I feel like I'm not asking for too much, especially now that I'm a champion. I've been saving my silver bullets this entire time. And now that I got it, it's like, I want to get paid. Is that too much to ask? I mean, as a professional, don't you feel like you shouldn't, of course, there's flip side. You're holding a gun up to your head. No one's making you fight. No, but I'm a professional. You know, and I'm at the height of my game. I'm the champion. I'm at the top of my league, you know, pay me. Also you have a child, you have a future. You have a window of opportunity with fighting that doesn't last very long. I mean, it's one of the smallest windows of opportunity for an elite professional athlete. I got to hold on to this little chunk of money that I have for the rest of my life. You know, it's like, what do you, I feel like I'm not asking for too much. You know what I mean? I just want what's fair. I think if you beat Amanda again at 35, excuse me, when? Yes. At 35 and then you fight her for the 45 pound title. Yes. That would be crazy. That would be like bullying. Well, somebody suggested, well, what if she doesn't decide to take the fight with you and decides to take an easier fight at 45 and retires off into the sunset? Like she can't, she can't do that. She would look like the biggest coward on earth. Sometimes people just get worn out by the pressure too, though. That's a factor. How hard is it to go do your road work when you're waking up in silk pajamas every morning? That's Marvin Hagler. You know? He's another guy who walked away in his prime. Yeah, good for Marvin. Good for Marvin, but I mean, it's got to be difficult. You're sitting on 10 mil in the bank. The motivation is just not there.