Julianna Peña submits Amanda Nunes in second round to win UFC women's bantamweight title in stunner

LAS VEGAS – Julianna Peña achieved the unthinkable on Saturday when she submitted Amanda Nunes to claim the women’s bantamweight title in the UFC 269 co-main event

Pena (11-4 MMA, 7-2 UFC) landed good shots on Nunes (21-5 MMA, 14-2 UFC) in the second round before securing the takedown, taking the back and finishing the job with a rear-naked choke at the 3:22 mark of Round 2.

“I’m not surprised (expletive),” Pena said in her post-fight interview with Joe Rogan. “I told you.”

UFC 269 took place at T-Mobile Arena. The main card aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN2 and early prelims on ESPN+.

Warning: Some strong language in video

After a few seconds of feeling each other out, Nunes swung with the heavy leg kick that put an off-balance Pena on her backside. The challenger stood back up and they swung more, with Nunes landing another big shot that hurt Pena and put her on the ground. Nunes followed up and worked for some submission attempts, but she couldn’t put Pena away inside the opening frame.

Pena had a few moments in the early stages of the second round. She clipped Nunes with some straight punches down the middle, and the champion obliged her in something of a slugfest. Pena landed a handful of good shots, but Nunes seemingly took them without issue and fired back. She landed a good punch that swelled Pena’s left cheekbone. Nunes showed some signs of fatigue and was taking some hard jabs.

Pena then secured a takedown and finished the job, becoming the eighth fighter in UFC history to win a season of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series and a UFC belt.

Nunes, for her part, was graceful in defeat.

“I did everything tonight,” Nunes said. “I trained very hard for this fight. … Congrats to Julianna.”