"You were just content with sleeping" - Julianna Pena spills TUF 18 story about Raquel Pennington, gives a timeline for potential fight for the belt
Julianna Pena is eager to challenge the newly crowned UFC women's bantamweight champion, Raquel Pennington.
Pennington and Mayra Bueno Silva faced off for the vacant UFC women's bantamweight title this past weekend at UFC 297. 'Rocky' emerged victorious and made it clear that she intends to face Pena, her long-time nemesis, for her first title defense.
Speaking to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Pena shared some details from 'The Ultimate Fighter 18', wherein both fighters were contestants over a decade ago. Slamming Pennington's work ethic at the time, she said:
"Well, she [Pennington] was staying up so late and she's sleeping above me in the bunk bed, and she would miss her first practice and she would never come to first practice.''
'The Venezuelan Vixen' added:
''I'm grinding, I'm coming up and you're not doing anything, you were just content with sleeping.''
Catch Julianna Pena's comments below (10.17):
In the same interview, the former UFC women's bantamweight champion revealed that she's back to training at full capacity. When asked about when she could potentially return to action, Pena said:
"I would say one of those two dates, the first week of June or the third week in July. I asked for International Fight Week. They said no. They said that that date wasn't available. They did say however if anything changes, they would let me know about International Fight Week. The location I think would be a really big key factor for me."
Check out Julianna Pena discussing her return timeline below:
Julianna Pena makes case for a trilogy fight against now-retired Amanda Nunes
Julianna Pena isn't content with the unresolved state of her rivalry with former two-division queen Amanda Nunes.
Pena and Nunes share a storied history, having fought twice before the latter retired. 'The Venezuelan Vixen' pulled off one of the biggest upsets in UFC history by winning via submission at UFC 269 in 2021, but subsequently lost the title to 'The Lioness' in a dominant beatdown the following year. They were scheduled for a trilogy bout at UFC 289 last year, but Pena had to withdraw due to an injury.
At a Q&A session last year, Pena had this to say about a potential trilogy fight:
"I think I saw, in a clip she said, 'I'd kick her a** anytime I want.' - Except for the time that you couldn't and that it really counted. So, I really don't know what she's talking about. As far as I'm concerned, we're 1-1 and I actually have a leg up on her because I was not stopped, I was not finished, I was never down and out. "
Catch Julianna Pena's comments below (11.35):
Amanda Nunes retired after her win over Irene Aldana but isn't ruling out a comeback.