Julianna Peña is about to see a lot more of Amanda Nunes.
The UFC bantamweight champion announced Friday during an appearance on The Ellen Degeneres Show that she and Nunes will coach opposite one another on the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter 30, and then meet in a rematch later this year.
Peña and Nunes were first reported to be the front-runners to serve as TUF 30 coaches by Ariel Helwani. Heavyweights and female flyweights will be featured on the season.
A date for the rematch has not been set, but MMA Fighting’s Damon Martin confirmed with Peña’s management that filming for TUF 30 will begin in February.
Peña and Nunes — No. 1 and No. 2 at 135 pounds in MMA Fighting’s Global Rankings, respectively — will become just the third pair of women to coach the show after Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate (TUF 18) and Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Claudia Gadelha (TUF 23).
TUF returned to the air in 2021 after a three-year hiatus with a season featuring Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega as coaches.
When Peña and Nunes face off again, it will be a rematch of their stunning encounter at UFC 269 this past December that saw Peña author one of the greatest upsets in combat sports history with a second-round submission of Nunes. The loss snapped an eight-year, 12-fight win streak for Nunes and was her first loss in six bantamweight title defenses.
