Julianna Peña’s next fight

The former UFC women’s bantamweight champion, Julianna Pena is one of the most celebrated female athletes in the promotion. From winning The Ultimate Fighter 18 to becoming the divisional champion, Pena has been phenomenal throughout her time in the UFC.

Julianna Pena’s win over the unstoppable Amanda Nunes in 2021, is still considered to be one of the greatest upsets in the history of the promotion. During that time, Nunes was the reigning champion and on a 12-fight win streak, of which 9 of them were title bouts(both featherweight and bantamweight). Pena submitted Nunes at UFC 269 in the second round to become the new champion. However, Pena’s next outing did not favor her, and took away the title, and also due to an injury during the fight camp, ‘The Venezuelan Vixen’ had been away from fighting since 2022.

Julianna Peña’s next fight

Julianna Pena is set to face the UFC women’s bantamweight champion, Raquel Pennington in her next fight at UFC 307 on October 5, 2024, at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, United States. The women’s bantamweight title bout will be held as a co-main event of the fight card under the main event headlined by the light heavyweight champion, Alex Pereira and Khalil Rountree Jr.

Raquel Pennington became the UFC women’s bantamweight champion by defeating Mayra Bueno Silva at UFC 297 on January 20, 2024. The title was vacant after the former reigning champion, Amanda Nunes announced her retirement during the post-fight interview on June 10, 2023, at UFC 289. Hence, it will be Pennington’s first title defense since becoming the champion.

Julianna Pena’s last fight

Julianna Pena had her last fight against Amanda Nunes at UFC 277 on July 30, 2022, in Dallas, Texas, U.S. It was her first title defense after becoming the women’s bantamweight champion in 2021. However, a dominant Nunes had a unanimous decision win over Pena by the judges’ scorecard after the five-rounder. Hence, Pena lost her title back to Nunes.

However, both bantamweights were set to go up for a trilogy match-up in June 2023, but Pena had to withdraw from the fight due to an injured rib cage during her fight camp.

Pena was replaced by Irene Aldana for the fight. Nevertheless, Nunes had another unanimous decision win against Aldana. Moreover, Nunes announced her retirement from the sport during the post-fight octagon interview.

Julianna Pena is still ranked No.1 in the women’s bantamweight division and No.5 in the pound-for-pound of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.