Salt Lake City – Two-time UFC bantamweight champion Julianna Peña disregarded any thought that she didn’t do enough to earn the victory over Raquel Pennington at UFC 307 on Saturday night.
“My old good friend Burt Watson he used to say ‘don’t leave it in the hands of the judges. They’re only going to make you cry’. That was definitely playing in my head rent-free,” Peña told reporters including Cageside Press at her post-fight scrum.
“Especially because, in the locker room, I kept hearing that they were giving these decisions away and that the judges were a little crazy tonight. Then when I heard ‘split’ I was like ‘oh golly’. I didn’t know, but I thought in my head I had done enough.”
Peña (11-5) indeed did enough in the eyes of the judges to get the nod over Pennington in Salt Lake City. At one point in the fight Pennington dropped her with a clean right hand that many thought would bring on the beginning of the end of Peña.
“I know that I am tough. I know that I am durable, and I know that I am never out the fight. I’m never going to give up on myself. You’re literally going to have to kill me in there in order to get me to stop,” she said.
“I knew, even though I had been hurt, that I wasn’t down and out. I’m never going to count myself out. For me it’s just the definition of a true fighter.”
Following the victory Peña called out former two-division UFC champion Amanda Nunes to come out of retirement to complete their trilogy in the cage. The retired future UFC hall of famer responded with a vague post on X.
🦁😉
— Amanda Nunes (@Amanda_Leoa) October 6, 2024
With no clear path to a third fight with Nunes the new champion has another name ready to step into the octagon with her. Kayla Harrison won her fight against Ketlen Vieira earlier in the night, and is largely assumed to be next in line for the belt.
“If Amanda cowers away, again, and does not come back and fight me then yes,” Peña said about a matchup with Harrison.
“Kayla brings a lot of eyeballs and a lot of attention to the sport and I love that.”
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with UFC bantamweight champion Julianna Peña above.
