Amanda Nunes was beaten by Julianna Pena in a UFC 269 upset last December, losing her first match since 2014.
Recently, Núñez, who gave her first interview since the defeat, said that she had problems long before this game, and that combined with injuries and poor preparations, the person who played in the octagon that night was not really herself.
"The whole preparation process for this game was a mess. I always want to reassure myself that it's okay that I can win the game because that's the psychology that's common as a fighter. The original date of the meeting between Me and Pena was postponed because I had contracted the new crown, and when the match was finalized for the second time, I had several problems in the preparation, which made it impossible for me to devote myself to training every day at 100%. But I don't want this game to go through again because it's going to make my image look bad. ”
"I felt like it was a huge mistake I had made, I didn't want to postpone the game again because of myself and it also cost me. I was supposed to listen to the doctor's advice, listen to my body's reaction, and come out at my best as I used to, 100% ready. ”
Nunez further revealed that she had injuries to both knees before the game, which prevented her from training effectively. And the main content of her training can only revolve around standing blows, in addition to always paying attention to her nutritional status, because losing weight to 135 pounds is a difficult thing for her.
"I was in a terrible state on both knees and couldn't recover during the preparations, so I had to hold on. After each training session, I couldn't even walk the next day. But I didn't want to make excuses for my failures, I made mistakes and paid the price for them, and I did want to do a full preparation, but I couldn't do it. ”
"I needed to take a break because I couldn't do those necessary trainings, including jiu-jitsu and wrestling. So throughout the preparation period, I could only focus on the training of blows and various things related to weight conditioning. I could only use my own arms in the race, which made me lose the championship belt. ”
Nunez wasn't useless in this match against Pena either, who showed a devastating advantage in the first round, but Pena turned things around completely in the second round, throwing her opponent to the ground and ending the game with a naked twist after continuously wounding Nunez. Many people believe that Nunez's onslaught in the first round has exhausted her physical strength in advance, but Nunez herself said that Pena's continuous hits in the second round are the real trouble.
"Shortly after the start of the second round, I was hit by her, I had never been hit before, so I had never felt that way. I don't know how I got hit by her, so I looked back at the game and saw that she hit me with a Superman punch that hit me behind my left ear. After that you can clearly see that I lost my balance and that's when everything started to get bad. ”
"A lot of people say I'm having problems with my fitness, but it's not like that. When you're hit by an opponent and you've never had such an experience before, you don't know what to do with that. So when I felt hit by her, I couldn't recover quickly, and then everything got worse and worse. ”
Next, Nunez will coach Season 30 "The Ultimate Fighter" with Pena as a coach and prepare for the championship double battle between himself and Pena. This will be Núñez's first appearance as a challenger since challenging then-UFC women's featherweight champion Cristiane Justino in 2018, but unexpectedly, Núñez was thrilled.
"In fact, it gave me a very different feeling, which is to chase a certain goal. I've played very comfortably for a long time and now this position makes me feel fresh because I'm now the one chasing the title and it gives me a lot of motivation. (UFC China Dana)
Past interviews
Directed by Li Ke
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