Julianna Pena is already looking towards the future after losing her bantamweight title to Amanda Nunes in the UFC 277 main event.
After pulling off a massive upset to beat Nunes in their first encounter, Peña suffered a lopsided unanimous decision defeat to Nunes in the rematch, which saw her suffer several nasty cuts along her forehead that had blood covering her face for the second half of the fight.
Following the event, UFC president Dana White said Peña was meeting with a plastic surgeon to repair the damage done due to a “big chunk missing from her forehead” but it turns out she only needed some stitches to close the wounds.
While she’ll still need to take some time to recover, Peña wasted no time looking towards an eventual trilogy against Nunes now that the series is tied at one win a piece.
“Tougher than a two dollar steak,” Peña wrote on Instagram. “Thanks for the love everyone! Just a cat scratch that required a few stitches, no chunks missing, no surgery necessary. Love you all! We’re 1-1 now.”
Peña closed the post with several hashtags that included “trilogy” and “Peña vs. Nunes 3.”
Immediately after the event was over, White was hesitant to commit to a third fight between the bantamweights, especially with Nunes looking to take some time off to spend with her family following back-to-back battles with Peña as well as coaching against each other on The Ultimate Fighter.
While the first fight played out in Peña’s favor, Nunes definitely turned the tables in the rematch as she dominated nearly every minute across five rounds in the championship fight.
The final scorecards gave Nunes every round including several 10-8 rounds in her favor after she landed six takedowns and three recorded knockdowns.
Still, Peña stuck around until the final horn as she showed unbelievable durability to survive the onslaught from Nunes over 25 minutes.
Now it appears Peña is hoping for another chance to set things right after her UFC title reign ended in her first defense.
