Kyte: Everyone would love a 10-second knockout or a quick submission, but that’s not often how it happens, especially not at the championship level. Instead, it’s usually the contestant who’s come up with the best game plan and does the best job of executing things inside the Octagon who walks away with the raised hand and the gold around the cut.
So how do either women pull it off on Saturday night?
Mad : I think for Peña, she’s going to have to struggle again. I think this fight is going to be a bit different from the first, with a lot of changes coming from Nunes’ side. But for Peña, I don’t think a lot of things need to change: I think she did a very good job of what she was trying to implement – which is to make it a dogfight – and she didn’t just make that thing ugly and use her grappling like she did last time.
As for Nunes, she’s really going to have to stay disciplined. I really think skill for skill, she’s better almost everywhere on paper, and the things that she lacked in the last fight were mental and related to her lack of discipline in that fight.
UFC 277 Countdown: Full Episode | Peña against Nunes 2 | Moreno vs Kara-France 2
If she stays disciplined like the former champion that she is, I think she will find success. She had a great first round last time out but then got caught brawling and caught up in all that was on the mental side of things in this fight so if she can stay disciplined and find a home for this hand right, that should take dealing with most of them in the fight for it.
Montoya: I would say that for Nunes it’s not even technical; it is mental. Where are we ? Does she train like a savage and a hungry fighter or is she content with her position in life, and if she wins, she wins, and if she doesn’t, she doesn’t?
If you want to break it down and get really technical, if you allow Nunes to stay at bay and squeeze his punches, get on the back foot, circle the perimeter, cut the cage and make this fight smaller than the The Octagon set – it’s the technical combat that Nunes must have.
OTHER FREE FIGHTS: Moreno vs Kara-France 1 | Kara-France against Garbrandt | Figueiredo vs. Moreno 2 | Nunes versus Holm
With Peña, she showed in her last fight that she could be hit, take some of it, keep the pressure on and finally find an opportunity to win.
I don’t really think the game plans change much – I think it’s ultimately up to who can implement it again, and then mentally, where are the two fighters? Are they both satisfied or do they just want to create a legacy and show that they are going to hold this belt for a long time and no one is going to stop me?
X factor
