UFC women's bantamweight champion, Julianna Peña, and women's featherweight champion Amanda Nunes are set to coach the 30th season of The Ultimate Fighter.
MMA journalist Ariel Helwani was the first to report the news of the pairing being the favorites to coach the new season of TUF via a tweet. Peña also confirmed she would be coaching opposite Nunes during a recent appearance on the daily talk show Ellen, revealing the booking to host Mario Lopez.
“I was the first (woman) to (win) on that show, ‘The Ultimate Fighter.’ I won the whole season,” Peña said (h/t MMA Junkie). “I’m going to now be giving back to these young fighters. I am going to be the coach on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ for this next season coming up. Amanda will be coaching alongside me. So it will be me and Amanda’s teams. It’ll be my team vs. Amanda’s team and then at the end of the season, we’re going to rematch.”
Peña and Nunes will coach teams of eight fighters that will include four women's flyweights and four men's heavyweights. The duo will then fight for a second time in a rematch following their first meeting back at UFC 269 where Peña upset Nunes via a second-round submission due to a rear-naked choke. The promotion has yet to officially announce anything regarding the new season, but it is expected to start filming later this month in Las Vegas.
JULIANNA PENA SHOCKS THE WORLD -- #UFC269 pic.twitter.com/LNr4amWe94
— UFC (@ufc) December 12, 2021
Fightful has all of your MMA and Boxing needs covered. Follow us on Twitter for updates, and subscribe to our YouTube channel for exclusive interviews, lists, news updates, and predictions
