Julianna Pena calls for interim UFC women’s bantamweight title with Amanda Nunes sidelined

Julianna Pena called for the creation of an interim UFC women’s bantamweight title with the current champion Amanda Nunes sidelined.

Pena was supposed to fight Nunes in the co-main event of UFC 265 on Saturday night in Houston, Texas, but the fight was postponed until later this year after Nunes tested positive for COVID-19. Nunes’ wife Nina recently took to social media to confirm that the Nunes family is now healthy and negative of COVID-19, but the UFC has still not re-booked this fight. The original plan was for the UFC to get this fight going in December, but as far as Pena goes, that is too long of a wait considering she is ready to scrap now.

Speaking to the media at UFC 265, where Pena was a special guest of UFC president Dana White, Pena said that while she understands Nunes is not able to fight right now, she is hopeful the UFC books an interim belt and lets the bantamweight division move on.

“I heard from a teammate of hers that she hasn’t even been training. Even when she was healthy and is healthy, she has barely been in the gym. So that part is frustrating for me because I have been making this fight my top priority,” Pena said (via MMAjunkie.com).

“And I have been doing the mom thing, as well. You know, I do want to take this time to say that I understand her position. She is a new mother. She wants to enjoy that time with her baby, and she lacks a little bit of motivation to get up for a fight when she wants to hang out with her little newborn. I get that. I was in that same position. But if you’re not going to fight in December, it will be two years since she has defended the belt at 135 pounds. We’ve got to keep the train moving. Let’s get a girl in there that’s ready to rock, and we’ll fight for the interim belt, and when she’s ready to come back, she can come pry it out of my cold, dead fingers.”

Do you agree with Julianna Pena that the UFC should create an interim UFC women’s bantamweight title while Amanda Nunes is out?