Salt Lake City — UFC women’s bantamweight champ Raquel Pennington says she’s been waiting to fight Julianna Pena for eleven years, since their time together on The Ultimate Fighter 18.
Sat across the stage from one another during Thursday’s UFC 307 pre-fight press conference, Pena disputed that, noting that Pennington didn’t win TUF, so she hadn’t been waiting that long at all.
Either way, the pair have no love lost between them, and that was on full display during Thursday’s final promotional push.
Pennington, Kayla Harrison, and even Kelen Vieira, the latter two fighting earlier on the UFC 307 card, have all had words for Pena, who has become something of a lightning rod for controversy, if not outright hostility. As to what draws that attention, Pena isn’t sure.
“I dunno, I guess I have some type of way that gets under people’s skin, I really don’t know what it is. Maybe you guys can tell me,” stated Pena, fielding questions from media outlets including Cageside Press. “However, I will just say that it’s a compliment.”
The pair were anything but cordial on stage in Salt Lake City, though things never got close to getting out of hand. Instead, it was verbal jabs being traded ahead of their bantamweight title fight, which will see Pennington look to defend her title for the first time (she won the belt back in January), and Pena attempt to reclaim it..
“I don’t care if I knock her out with a pinky finger. I don’t care if I submit her with one hand like I have before with other opponents. At the end of the day, however I get this win, I will kill for it. I will literally kill for it,” Pena boasted. “And I’m not going to stop. She even said it herself, I’m a warrior, and I do not stop. I have relentless pressure, ruthless aggression and I will not stop until I get my hand raised.”
When Pennington interjected that Pena was a Chihuahua, not a Pitbull, Pena fired back by saying that “this is the most you guys have actually ever heard Raquel Pennington speak in the history of knowing Raquel Pennington. I had to bring that out in her in order to get people interested in the fight, because nobody is interested in this block of wood over here. She’s boring.”
“We’ll see who’s boring Saturday,” Pennington fired back.
Pena had previously claimed “Rocky” Pennington was a poor representation of the women’s bantamweight division, primarily because she wouldn’t talk or promote, and seemed to shy away from the spotlight. None of that will matter come Saturday, however, and with Kayla Harrison facing Ketlen Vieira also on the UFC 307 main card, there’s the possibility of an even bigger fight on the horizon.
