Amanda Nunes out of UFC 265 title showdown with Julianna Pena after optimistic Covid take a look at

The specter of Covid-19 continues to be felt in sports activities after Amanda Nunes was dominated out of her August 7 UFC bantamweight title protection towards Julianna Pena after the Brazilian examined optimistic for the virus.

Nunes’ withdrawal from the battle was confirmed Thursday by a number of sources, with the reasoning confirmed as being a optimistic Covid-19 prognosis which has additionally contaminated her associate Nina Nunes and their toddler daughter Raegan.

It’s unclear at this level if Nunes was vaccinated.

UFC officers have indicated that they may try to rebook the battle for later within the yr. 

The information will come as a blow to subsequent month’s UFC 265 battle card which is about to happen in Houston, Texas, and shall be topped by an interim heavyweight title tilt between Derrick Lewis and Ciryl Gane – with a bantamweight scrap between Jose Aldo and Pedro Munhoz now more likely to transfer into the co-main occasion slot. 

Nunes is broadly thought of to be the best feminine blended martial artist of all time, and the one feminine fighter in historical past to have held two world titles concurrently within the UFC.

Her listing of vanquished opponents reads like a who’s-who of massive identify MMA stars. Ronda Rousey, Cris Cyborg, Valentina Shevchenko and Holly Holm have all held gold within the UFC however fell on the toes of the ‘Lioness’ within the Octagon. 

The battle with Pena was slated to be Nunes’ return to the bantamweight fold after a two-fight sojourn at featherweight throughout which she beat each Felicia Spencer and, this previous March, Megan Anderson. 

Her bantamweight title hasn’t been defended since December 2019 which might imply that there shall be a spherical a two-year hole between title defenses – a state of affairs that the UFC are notoriously eager to afford once they crown a double-champion, and which might probably result in an interim title being created.

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