HOUSTON, Texas — Two-division MMA champion Amanda Nunes tested positive for COVID-19 Thursday, which means her upcoming fight against Spokane native Julianna Peña has been canceled.
The UFC 265 fight was scheduled for Aug. 7 in Houston.
Peña would have been the first fighter ever from Spokane to challenge for a UFC belt. According to ESPN, the plan is to reschedule the fight at a later date when Nunes is healthy.
This would have been the third time Peña challenged Nunes to fight only for it to be rescheduled or Nunes went a different route.
"There’s been so many times that she’s agreed to fight me, and then not ended up fighting me, that the only way to get the fight was to remind people that I’m 9-2 in the UFC, I have one more loss on my record than she does, I’ve been in the division just as long as she has, and I have fought just as many times," Pena said to KREM. "To me, it was the only fight that made sense, and the only way to get the fight was to speak up and let that be known. It may have sounded like I was trying to trash talk, but the little mouth of the south over here had to do what I had to do to get the fight."
Before the news of Nunes testing positive, Peña was excited to be the first fighter to bring the title back to Spokane.
"It would mean the world to me. I think it would probably be my biggest crowning achievement. It would just give me so much pride. I would love nothing more to bring that belt back to Spokane and put it above my head and be like, ‘Spokane on the map.’ This is what I’ve been working for. If anybody doesn’t know where or what Spokane is, they will know after that," said Pena.