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After 26 months, former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Julianna Pena returns to action this weekend (Sat., Oct. 5, 2024) to face longtime foe and current champion Raquel Pennington in the co-main event of UFC 307 inside Delta Center in Salt Lake City.
There has been much criticism of Pena’s immediate title shot. So, the question is, does she actually deserve one? The answer is … hell no.
Let me explain.
First and foremost, in her last fight, she was completely obliterated by former double champion Amanda Nunes in a non-competitive bout. Their rematch was an immediate do-over from their first fight, in which Pena upset an exhausted Nunes for the title.
Yes, there have been several examples of fighters who have received title shots coming off losses; for example, Israel Adesanya, who most recently got a Middleweight title shot against Dricus Du Plessis after he was dominated by Sean Strickland. The difference between Adesanya and Pena is that “Stylebender” is a two-time defending champion with several title defenses and is one of the biggest stars in the company.
Second, Pena currently has no wins over anyone on the UFC roster. Not one. Other than Nunes, her most recent victory is over the shopworn Sara McMann and before that, she was put to sleep against kickboxing champion and former UFC titleholder Germaine de Randamie (watch highlights).
Lastly, there was a pretty clear option to fight for the women’s bantamweight title: Kayla Harrison. The 17-1 judoka demolished former champion Holly Holm in her Octagon debut and is a former two-time Professional Fighters League (PFL) champion and Olympic gold medalist. Maybe the promotion wanted to see if Harrison could make the bantamweight limit (again) without difficulty, but there isn’t a compelling reason why Pena was chosen over Harrison.
I really don’t see any reason why Pena deserves this title shot other than she talks a lot of trash, which ends up being … well, very cringe. There is a somewhat interesting storyline between her and Pennington (they were on The Ultimate Fighter 18 together) and have hated each other ever since.
Nevertheless, UFC is gonna UFC, and we have a dumb bantamweight title fight this weekend, which not a soul cares about because of the undeserving challenger.
MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 307 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches at 6 p.m. ET, followed by the remaining undercard balance on ESPNN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.
To check out the latest and greatest UFC 307: “Pereira vs. Rountree Jr.” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here. For the updated and finalized UFC 307 fight card and ESPN+ lineup click here.
