Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Julianna Peña criticized the UFC 297 co-main event, calling it a “snooze fest” and expressing disappointment in the performances of Raquel Pennington and Mayra Bueno Silva, while also announcing her return to training and her intention to fight Pennington for the belt.
Julianna Peña wasn’t exactly thrilled by UFC 297’s co-main event. Far from it, actually. “A snooze fest,” she called it. “Not impressed,” she added, echoing the words of her friend, Georges St-Pierre.
“No one won,” she declared on The MMA Hour. “The fans lost. Literally, no winner.”
Peña, a former UFC women’s bantamweight champion, watched from her couch as her division crowned a new queen at UFC 297. This happened after Amanda Nunes hung up her gloves. Peña was supposed to be in the vacant title fight, but an injury sidelined her. Instead, Raquel Pennington and Mayra Bueno Silva squared off in Toronto. Pennington won a unanimous decision, completing her 11-year journey to the belt. At 35, she became the oldest female champion in UFC history.
But the fight didn’t exactly set the Scotiabank Arena on fire. Ten of Pennington’s last 11 UFC wins have been decisions. Peña wasn’t surprised.
She recalled a time on The Ultimate Fighter house. Pennington was up against Jessica Rakoczy, an eight-time world champion boxer, in the semifinals. Dana White urged Pennington to “throw your hands,” but she didn’t. She lost the fight and later admitted she didn’t heed Dana’s advice. “Some things never change,” Peña mused. “I mean, golly, you think you’d get a clue.”
Peña was baffled. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” she confessed. It seemed to her like Pennington didn’t want to fight. She just wanted to stick to her opponent. Peña recalled a fight with Holly Holm where Pennington was up against the fence the entire time. “It’s a good way to stay safe,” she admitted. But she wondered why Pennington didn’t listen to Dana or her corner. “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink,” she quipped.
“She just doesn’t get that fire lit underneath her butt,” Peña continued. She felt Pennington lacked the “eye of the tiger,” the killer instinct. But she knew someone who had it – herself, Juliana ‘The Venezuelan Vixen,’ the Peña power.
Peña and Pennington go way back to The Ultimate Fighter 18 in 2013. Peña won that season, but their relationship was frosty. That frostiness has persisted for 11 years.
Peña is now healthy and back to training. She’s already spoken to UFC officials about her return. She’s eyeing a date in June or July to settle the score with Pennington for the belt. As the only woman to defeat Nunes since 2014, Peña is one of the most decorated fighters in the UFC’s current women’s bantamweight division. She’s vowed to send Pennington into retirement.
After that, she’s ready to usher in a new era for women’s bantamweight. “Whether it was Mayra, whether it was Raquel, it doesn’t matter. The only one that makes me bleed my own blood is me,” Peña declared. She felt Mayra would’ve been a bigger fight because she’s more interesting and likes to verbally spar. Raquel, she said, is like a “boring block of wood.”
She compared Raquel to a turtle on a pole. “You’re just there because there was no one else,” she said. “Not because you’re exciting. The fans aren’t dying to see you fight.” She felt Mayra would’ve been a better match, but she’ll be ready for her when the time comes.