The future of the UFC women’s bantamweight division was up for grabs when Julianna Peña defended her title against Kayla Harrison at UFC 316 on Saturday night.
Peña (11-5) is the two-time bantamweight champion coming off a split-decision victory over Raquel Pennington at UFC 307 last October. She originally won the title by scoring a major upset over hall of famer Amanda Nunes at UFC 269 before giving the title right back at UFC 277.
Subject to plenty of online scrutiny Peña has been steadfast in her self-belief. Coming into this fight she was a pretty large underdog and she fed into that on media day.
“It was told to me that I’m a six-to-one underdog. Being a six-to-one underdog as a champion is very disrespectful, number one,” Peña told Cageside Press at her media day scrum on Wednesday.
“When you put me in a position of nothing to lose and everything to gain, that makes me a very dangerous woman.”
Harrison (18-1) is the former PFL superstar winning two lightweight titles in their tournament format. Her lone career loss came at the hands of Larissa Pacheco in 2022 in what is largely considered the biggest upset in PFL history.
A two-time Olympic Judo gold medalist Harrison entered the UFC in 2023. A submission victory over former champ Holly Holm made many feel she was ready for a title shot. Coming off a win over Ketlen Vieira at UFC 307 she’s earned her right to fight for a belt.
Round 1 Harrison and Peña came out very respectful of each other. Not much landed until Harrison flew in for a body lock takedown and put Peña on her back. The fight stayed right there until Peña landed two illegal up kicks.
The referee took a point from Peña and reset the action on the feet.
Round 2 both ladies came out more aggressive looking to land hands up top. Peña didn’t show much urgency coming off losing a point in the first round. Harrison clearly didn’t want to gas herself out to land a finishing shot. Five rounds is a long time.
Harrison found her way back into the body lock, got the takedown, put Peña back on the ground. After getting to side control Harrison snuck the kimura in and finished the fight.
Kayla Harrison is your new UFC women’s bantamweight champion!
Official Result: Kayla Harrison def. Julianna Peña via R2 SUB (Kimura), 4:55
