Julianna Pena lists three reasons why Kayla Harrison might be on PEDs
Julianna Pena is determined to prove that Kayla Harrison was using illegal substances. Pena recently provided three reasons in support of her claim.
Pena will make her women's bantamweight title defense against Harrison in the co-main event of UFC 316 this weekend at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. There is no love lost between the reigning champion and Harrison, as Pena has accused the two-time Olympic gold medalist of taking performance-enhancing drugs on several occasions.
The 34-year-old's coach at American Top Team, Mike Brown, dismissed Pena's claims in a conversation with MMA Fighting. According to Brown, Harrison is a hard worker who achieved success through her efforts, without any cheating.
In a recent interview with Submission Radio, Pena doubled down on her PED accusations, taking a dig at Harrison ahead of their title fight.
''It's possible but I have three questions. Number one, have you ever heard of an Olympian pis*ing hot before?...number two, I've been fighting since 2013 and never once has PED use ever come up as far as a topic of conversation with any other opponent that I've ever had, why her? Number three, I absolutely know for a fact that people from the stories that I've been told and my own experiences that I've had at ATT, that they were shooting each other in the a*s in the bathroom all the time.''
Check out Julianna Pena's comments below (12:20):
Pena made her octagon return to challenge Raquel Pennington for the women’s bantamweight title at UFC 307 last year and became a two-time champion after winning by split decision.
As for Harrison, following her departure from PFL, the American signed with the multi-billion dollar organization and made two appearances, defeating Holly Holm and Ketlen Vieira at UFC 300 and UFC 307, respectively.
Ketlen Vieira wants to face the loser of Julianna Pena vs. Kayla Harrison
Ketlen Vieira will be paying close attention to the co-main event of UFC 316 this Saturday, which will feature a title fight between reigning champion Julianna Pena and top contender Kayla Harrison.
Vieira recently defeated Macy Chiasson via unanimous decision at UFC Vegas 107. During the post-fight press conference, the Brazilian discussed her path to UFC gold, which starts by facing the loser of Pena vs. Harrison, saying:
''So given the fact that she's going to fight for the championship against whoever wins, whoever loses that fight, I think it would be good for me. So whoever loses between Kayla and Julianna, that's the fight for me."
Check out Ketlen Vieira's comments below (3:51):