Their first encounter resulted in one of the biggest upsets in
Ultimate Fighting Championship history. No one knows what to
expect from the sequel.
Julianna
Pena will defend the undisputed women’s bantamweight crown
against
Amanda
Nunes when their rematch headlines
UFC
277 on Saturday at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. Pena
stunned the mixed martial arts world in December, when she
submitted the “Lioness” with a second-round rear-naked choke at UFC
269 and handed the Brazilian her first loss in more than seven
years. She overwhelmed and ultimately wore down Nunes with volume
punching—Pena piled up a 76-49 advantage in significant
strikes—before closing the deal in decisive fashion.
As Pena and Nunes approach their second showdown with one another,
a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this
point:
32: Years of age for Pena, who was born on Aug. 19, 1989 in
Spokane, Washington.
5: Pena victories by submission, accounting for 46% of her career
total (11). Her methods of choice: three rear-naked chokes, one
guillotine choke and one armbar. Pena holds three other victories
by knockout or technical knockout (27%) and three more by decision
(27%).
178: Seconds needed for Pena to put away
Raylene
Harvey with a rear-naked choke in her professional debut under
the ExciteFight banner on May 9, 2009. Having occurred more than 13
years ago, it remains her fastest finish to date.
834: Total strikes landed by Pena as a UFC women’s bantamweight,
placing her sixth on the promotion’s all-time list at 135 pounds.
Only
Raquel
Pennington (1,206),
Alexis
Davis (1,000),
Irene
Aldana (903),
Bethe
Correia (891) and
Marion
Reneau (849) have connected with more.
.699: Cumulative winning percentage between the four
opponents—
Germaine
de Randamie,
Valentina
Shevchenko,
DeAnna
Bennett and
Sarah
Moras—who have defeated Pena. They boast a combined record of
51-21-1.
34: Years of age for Nunes, who was born in Pojuca, Brazil, on May
30, 1988.
13: Nunes wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for
62% of her career total (21). Her list of victims includes
Holly Holm,
Cristiane
Justino,
Ronda
Rousey and
Julia Budd.
Nunes owns four other wins by submission (19%) and four more by
decision (19%).
1,981: Days spent by Nunes undisputed UFC women’s bantamweight
champion. She laid claim to the throne with a rear-naked choke
submission of
Miesha Tate
at UFC 200 on July 9, 2016 and made five successful title defenses
before surrendering it to Pena. It ranks as the fourth-longest
single reign in the history of the promotion behind
Anderson
Silva (2,457),
Demetrious
Johnson (2,142) and
Georges St.
Pierre (2,064).
250,000: Dollars in post-fight bonuses banked by Nunes across her
16 appearances in the UFC. She has been awarded “Performance of the
Night” on five different occasions.
61: Combined victories between the five opponents—Pena, Davis,
Cat
Zingano, Sarah D’Alelio and
Ana Maria—who
have beaten Nunes. They sport a cumulative .663 winning percentage
(61-31).