Julianna Peña rips Raquel Pennington 'snooze fest' UFC 297 title win, vows to retire new champ
Julianna Peña was unsurprisingly critical of Raquel Pennington's UFC 297 title win and promises the new champ's reign will be "short lived."
Julianna Pena was not entertained by Raquel Pennington’s performance in Saturday’s UFC 297 vacant women’s bantamweight title win over Mayra Bueno Silva.
“It was a snooze fest,” Peña said on Monday’s episode of “The MMA Hour” with Ariel Helwani. “I was not impressed. I was not impressed with their performances, as my friend Georges St-Pierre likes to say. … It was all around just a complete disappointment, but it doesn’t matter because the breaking news is we will be fighting for the real belt this summer, coming at you to a theatre near you.”
Peña (11-5 MMA, 7-3 UFC) claims she was originally offered to be part of the vacant 135-pound championship bout after Amanda Nunes retired from MMA in June. Injury prevented her from accepting, so she had to be a witness as Pennington (16-8 MMA, 13-5 UFC) outlasted Bueno Silva over the course of five rounds for a unanimous decision victory at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
It didn’t take long after Pennington had the belt wrapped around her waist to call for a matchup with Peña, which she’s wanted for some time.
“That relationship just goes back to 2013 when we were both back in ‘The Ultimate Fighter,'” Pennington said at the UFC 297 post-fight news conference. “Let’s just say I learned Julianna’s personality then, and it’s kind of one of those where you stay your way, and I’ll stay mine, but you get under my damn skin. I’ve been waiting for that fight for 13 years – whether the title is on the line or not.”
Peña, 34, heard the comments from Pennington, 35, and she was amused while detailing the genesis of some of the issues between them.
“It just cracks because to me, it’s like, you sound delusional,” Peña said. “First off I’ve got to say I love me, some me. I’m never going to agree with that when she says that, ‘You go your way and I go mine.’ Yes, you’re right. I go my way (up) and you go yours (down). And the way that I’m going is winning ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ and winning the championship.
“When we were living inside the house, she was saying up so late with Shayna Baszler until three, four o’clock in the morning and in ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ house you get to train twice a day with the best people in the world. Every single day you get to train two times inside the gym. Well she was staying up so late, and she was sleeping above me in the bunk bed, that she would miss her first practice and she would never come to first practice. So I’m out here grinding two times a day, making the most out of my opportunities so that I can become ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ while she’s sleeping. We’re going opposite ways all right. I’m grinding and coming up and you’re not doing anything, just content with sleeping and being a being a bump on the log. It’s not my fault that you’ve been waiting 10 years to get this fight.”
Peña said she’s already started to engage with the UFC brass about a title showdown with Pennington, and is confident it will come to fruition for June or July. “The Venezuelan Vixen” said she hopes Pennington enjoys her time with the belt until then, because her days on top are numbered.
“I really am happy for her and her career and everything like that. But it’s going to be short-lived. It’s not going to be being this champion for seven years. That’s not the case, unfortunately. She’s already talking about retiring and going into her retirement being a family man. Let me do the honors and kick you into retirement, Raquel.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 297.