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Julianna Peña defeats Amanda Nunes in one of the biggest upsets in MMA history

The Lioness goes down in an absolute stunner at UFC 269.

By Collin Sherwin Updated
Julianna Pena punches Amanda Nunes of Brazil in their UFC bantamweight championship bout during the UFC 269 on December 11, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

In one of the biggest surprises in MMA history, challenger Julianna Peña defeated UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes via a rear naked choke in the second round at UFC 269 on Saturday night in Las Vegas.

Nunes falls to 21-4 in her MMA career, snapping her 12 fight win streak and bringing her record in the octagon to 14-2. The previous No. 3 Peña moves to 11-4 in her career, and moves to 6-2 all-time in the UFC.

Peña closed as a +650 underdog at DraftKings Sportsbook, and stopped perhaps the greatest champion in the history of the UFC. And she did so after being dominated by Nunes in the first round. It looked for a moment like the fight wouldn’t even make it five minutes, but after the round break Peña was able to start landing strikes from her feet.

She had the champion stunned up against the wall of the cage, and with an impressive takedown took her back. The choke was clean, and most people in T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas were stunned at what they just saw.

Nunes loses despite being -1000 to win, and those that had Peña to win by submission picked up tickets at +2200

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