Julianna Pena has labelled Amanda Nunes a ‘coward’ for retiring at UFC 289. Nunes, 35, retained the bantamweight title with a points win over Irene Aldana on Saturday, before calling time on a career seen by many as the greatest in women’s mixed martial arts history. One of the few blemishes on the Brazilian’s career came in 2021, when Nunes – who also holds the UFC women’s featherweight title – was submitted by Pena with the bantamweight belt on the line. Nunes avenged the upset loss by dominating the American in 2022, and the pair were due for a trilogy bout at UFC 289 until Pena withdrew due to injury. Pena, 33, was in attendance in Vancouver to see Nunes retire, and the former champion said on The MMA Hour on Monday: “There was a part of me that really wanted to storm the cage. I had so many people like, ‘Yes, we’ll do it, we’ll throw you over the gate!’ Then my coach was like, ‘Don’t do it. Be classy and don’t do it.’ So, I let her have my moment, but it was really difficult for me, because there were so many times where my urge was to go, ‘Now is the time, go, go go.’ “But at the end of the day, she’s retired, she’s off in the sunset, she’s dead to me at this point, and we’ve just got to keep the division moving. Now we’re stepping into day one of the ‘Pena Power’ era. I’m the champ, I’ve always been the champ in my heart and in my head [...] It’s just a matter of time before the belt’s around my waist again. “I’ve been telling you from the beginning: She’s been wanting to retire, she was one foot out the door the entire time. “She even said it herself: She was going to retire after she tapped to me, but she didn’t, because she decided I’m too good looking and she doesn’t want me to have the belt. Seriously, she’s got a problem with me.” Pena has not fought since losing the bantamweight title to Nunes last July. The rivals were set to headline UFC 289 until a rib injury forced Pena out of the bout, leading Aldana to step in. “At the end of the day, Amanda didn’t want the fight,” Pena said. “The whole time, the UFC asked her to make the trilogy, she didn’t want to make it, and they made that clear to me. They said, ‘She doesn’t want to fight you.’ That’s why it took so long to book the trilogy, and when I fell out because of injury, she said it was ‘less heavy’ for her. “Hopefully she comes back. That would be best-case scenario, so we can squash this thing and finish this trilogy. It was literally going to be the greatest trilogy in women’s MMA. It’s never happened before, and she lost that opportunity to make it happen. I lost that opportunity because I got injured, she lost that opportunity because she wants to retire early. I say she took the coward’s way out, and that’s all there is to it.” Click here to subscribe to The Independent’s Sport YouTube channel for all the latest sports videos. Read More MMA great Amanda Nunes retires after win over Irene Aldana at UFC 289 Miami Heat mascot hospitalised after Conor McGregor punch Meet Charles Oliveira, the UFC’s miracle man

Eddie Howe has admitted Newcastle will need two XIs of equal quality to cope with the rigours of European football next season. The Magpies secured a Europa League campaign at worst with Thursday night’s 4-1 Premier League victory over Brighton, and will play in the Champions League if they win one of their two remaining games of the current campaign, which continues with struggling Leicester’s trip to St James’ Park on Monday. Asked what that would mean for the summer transfer window, Howe, who has been allowed to spend in excess of £250million to date, replied: “It’s a good question. We need to figure that out. “If you have a strong squad, rotation will be important. Rotation is going to be important, utilising the whole squad is going to be important. “We haven’t felt the necessity to necessarily do that on a consistent basis because we’ve been in one competition – of course, we had the cup run. We have rotated to a degree, but maybe not in the numbers that we might need to next year. “If you’re going to do that, then the squad needs to be strong enough, so if you put out two XIs, they’re of equal strength.” The strength of Howe’s current squad could be put to the test on Monday evening with his midfield resources stretched severely in the aftermath of an energy-sapping clash with the Seagulls. Joe Willock was helped from the pitch in some discomfort with a hamstring injury which the Magpies fear will end his season with two games to go, while Bruno Guimaraes has been nursing a persistent ankle problem in recent months. Howe said as he conducted his pre-match press conference: “Today I’ll be going straight to the physio room, to be honest, after this to see how everybody is. We’ve got a few concerns. “The lads gave so much yesterday to the game, they’ve given a lot to the season physically and I just hope there’s no serious effects. “It looks like Joe Willock may be in trouble with his hamstring – we might lose him for the season, but that’s unclear as I sit here now. Fingers crossed our team will still be strong.” He succumbed to that brick wall last night, it seemed to hurt him. Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe Even redoubtable Brazilian Joelinton is feeling the effects of a gruelling campaign after running himself into the ground in the club’s cause. Howe, who is not anticipating having either Sean Longstaff or Jacob Murphy back available to face the Foxes, said: “He’s a machine. He’d literally – it’s a well-used phrase in football – run through a brick wall for the team, the club and I think he does every game. “He succumbed to that brick wall last night, it seemed to hurt him, but we hope he’s okay. He’s just been incredible for us this year.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Mikel Arteta: Granit Xhaka’s future at Arsenal to be decided at end of season Sean Dyche: The only table that matters is the one at the end of the season Julen Lopetegui thrilled with Wolves progress since his first clash with Everton

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Dmitry Bivol has labelled the World Boxing Council’s ban on Russian boxers ‘unfair’, as he looks ahead to his next fight. The Kyrgyzstani-born Russian holds the WBA light-heavyweight title and has been linked with a bout against Artur Beterbiev, who holds the WBC, WBO and IBF belts. Russian-born Beterbiev represented his country of birth until last year, when he opted to represent Canada – where he has lived for 16 years – amid sporting sanctions relating to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Among those sanctions was a decision by the World Boxing Council (WBC) not to recognise Russian and Belarusian fighters, including champions. That decision also precludes Bivol, 32, from fighting Beterbiev, 38, in a unification bout at light-heavyweight, despite strong demand from fans. “Of course it’s not fair,” Bivol told Seconds Out on Monday (12 June). “How could [someone] say, ‘I am the champion of the world,’ if somebody from some country couldn’t fight for your belt? But this guy could be better than you. “It’s not fair. And this guy is just training, spending his time in the gym, and he’s not allowed to fight. He’s the same [as] you, he’s just living in a different apartment in a different place, but he’s working the same [as] you. “He’s training, he’s fighting, his mentality is similar, but why is he not allowed to fight? It’s not fair.” Bivol last fought in November, comprehensively outpointing Gilberto Ramirez to retain the WBA light-heavyweight title, which he also retained in his previous fight, against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in May 2022. Meanwhile, Beterbiev most recently fought in January, stopping Anthony Yarde in the eighth round. He is next due to box in August, defending his titles against another Briton, Callum Smith. Click here to subscribe to The Independent’s Sport YouTube channel for all the latest sports videos. Read More Teofimo Lopez and his father share emotional exchange during Josh Taylor fight Josh Taylor says move up to welterweight is ‘imminent’ after first career defeat Jake Paul agrees to 10 rounds in Nate Diaz fight

The Premier League’s summer spending of £2.36billion demonstrates the “incredible pace of growth” in the league’s wealth, according to finance company Deloitte. The £2bn milestone was surpassed for the first time in advance of Friday’s deadline with moves such as Manchester City’s £53million capture of Wolves’ Matheus Nunes then driving the total to new heights. Calum Ross, assistant director in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, told the PA news agency: “It took 14 summer transfer windows to exceed £1bn and it’s only taken seven more to surpass £2bn, so that just reflects the incredible pace of growth that we’re seeing.” Deloitte’s analysis showed the 2023 summer transfer window exceeded the previous record of £1.92bn, set only last summer, by almost £440m. Chelsea’s spending under Todd Boehly’s ownership group has continued with the £100m signing of midfielder Moises Caicedo from Brighton, £63m for forward Christopher Nkunku and Friday’s £40m capture of Cole Palmer from Manchester City. With Newcastle beating the Blues, Tottenham and Liverpool to a place in this season’s Champions League and Brighton – who pulled off a deadline-day coup with a loan deal for Barcelona star Ansu Fati – also challenging, there are as many as eight teams with realistic top-four ambitions. Arsenal signed West Ham captain Declan Rice for a similar fee to that for Caicedo and Manchester City spent £77m on Croatia defender Josko Gvardiol, while Spurs’ £47.5m move for Nottingham Forest forward Brennan Johnson was another standout move on deadline day. Ross said: “You’ve got that intensity of competition across the league. There are 10 clubs that have spent more than £100m so it’s not all those top clubs. “I think at the moment, more than half of the clubs have spent more than they did last season.” England’s top flight has spent almost as much as the other members of Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues – LaLiga in Spain, Italy’s Serie A, the French Ligue 1 and Germany’s Bundesliga – combined this summer. But a new challenge has emerged with the Saudi Pro League attracting the likes of Neymar, Karim Benzema and Riyad Mahrez to follow Cristiano Ronaldo’s January move to Al Nassr. I think almost half of the transfer fees received by Premier League clubs came from the Saudi Pro League Calum Ross of Deloitte’s Sports Business Group The fees and wages on offer in Saudi Arabia are eye-watering with Liverpool rejecting a £150m deadline-day bid from Al-Ittihad for attacking talisman Mohamed Salah. Ross said: “This is the first time since the summer window of 2016 that one of the big five leagues, LaLiga, doesn’t appear in the top five spenders globally. The Saudi Pro League’s replaced them, I think they’re the second highest at the moment with over 850million euros (£728m). “Also it’s another source of funding though – I think almost half of the transfer fees received by Premier League clubs came from the Saudi Pro League. So having that extra funding from Saudi Pro League clubs and other overseas markets is then providing them with additional funds to redistribute to their transfer targets.” The Saudi window remains open until next Thursday and while clubs could be reluctant to sell with no opportunity to replace departed talent, Ross said: “There is still a chance over the next week or so that we will see further outgoings. “Being able to operate in a financially sustainable manner, as well as complying with the relevant financial regulations, is a key part of their activity. “It’s balancing that need for financial sustainability and profitability with the desire for on-pitch success.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Ireland boss Andy Farrell says ability to ‘roll with punches’ key for World Cup Mason Greenwood will begin to rebuild career with loan move to Getafe David Moyes enjoying West Ham topping Premier League after Luton win

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