Julianna Peña Pulled Off UFC’s Upset Of The Year

This year, MMA fans saw a chunk of upset victories.

Israel Adesanya suffered his first UFC loss against Jan Blachowicz, Blachowicz then lost to underdog Glover Teixeira, the oldest fighter of the division, who is now the champion.

Conor McGregor suffered two TKO losses this year. Tony Ferguson got dominated by Beneil Dariush for three rounds and almost finished by submission.

But the biggest upset of the year was when Julianna Peña submitted long-reigning champion Amanda Nunes in the second round.

What a baffling game plan from Amanda Nunes in the second round.

She didn’t respect Julianna Pena’s power at all, kept thinking she would KO her in these wild exchanges. Gassed herself and Pena took advantage. Shocked. #UFC269 pic.twitter.com/9d9b4fBX2Q

— Kevin Thang (@Skip2MyJays) December 12, 2021

Nunes was the No. 1 ranked pound-for-pound female fighter for a reason. She was above fighters like Valentina Shevchenko, Rose Namajunas, to name a few. She has been undefeated since 2014 and earned 12 victories in two different weight categories in a row.

She defeated Shevchenko twice and dethroned Cris Cyborg. She also left no chances for Holly Holm and Germaine De Randamie. She defeated one of the best MMA female fighters, Ronda Rousey, in 48 seconds, via knockout.

On December 11, Nunes was shocked when her best punches could not drop Peña because she dropped Cyborg and Rousey with those punches.

Peña won via submission rear-naked choke.

After the fight, Peña said the exact words, which Nate Diaz said after bringing the biggest upset on the table, defeating McGregor via submission in March 2016.

“I am not surprised, motherf–ers.”

“I told you,” she said. “Don’t ever doubt me again.”

Peña was considered the massive underdog with the odds around +700, while Nunes’ odd was around -1125.