“She’s not a hungry savage anymore” – Dana White reveals why Julianna Pena stands a chance at defending her belt against Amanda Nunes
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Dana White talks about Amanda Nunes
MMA is not an easy sport to excel at for a long time. Even the greatest like Amanda Nunes fall at some point and Dana White believes it is highly unlikely that someone as successful as Nunes for a long period of time has the hunger to climb back up to the top.
In 2021, at UFC 269, the combat sports world witnessed one of the biggest upsets of the sport as Julianna Pena dethroned the GWOAT Amanda Nunes to become the bantamweight champion of UFC. Leading up to the fight, Julianna was a huge underdog and Amanda was guaranteed to walk through Pena in her title defense. However, Julianna’s self-belief and willpower helped her achieve the impossible.
Amanda still is a champion of the women’s featherweight division in UFC but that weightclass has barely any contenders. Losing the bantamweight belt was a huge deal to the entire world but Dana White doubts if it was to Nunes. Amanda has been at the top of the game for her entire life and this is the first time she is tasting defeat. Leading up to her fight against Julianna, Amanda has lost only once in her UFC career. Dana believes Amanda’s personal life might affect Nunes’ drive to give her all in the octagon.
Dana White says Amanda Nunes is a “multi-millionaire”
“You know the big narrative we don’t pay anybody. Amanda is rich. Amanda is a multi-millionaire who is now at a completely different financial status,” says Dana talking to Brett Okamoto in his interview with ESPN MMA. “She has a baby now. She’s not that hungry savage she was when she started to take this run at becoming a world champion.”
Dana believes a lot of factors play into Amanda’s motivation to beat Julianna in her rematch at UFC 277 in July of 2022. However, Julianna on the other hand is only starting to taste success in her life ever since her win in The Ultimate Fighter. “Julianna is starting to see a lot of the things that come along with being the world champion now,” said White in the interview.
“That belt is the key that opens a lot of doors. I’m sure she wants to get to that Amanda Nunes level financially & everything else.” Dana had similar comments to say about Conor McGregor’s hunger for the sport and fighting given his financial status.
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Prateek Athanur
(2944 Articles Published)