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Raquel Pennington defeated Mayra Bueno Silva at UFC 297, the UFC's first pay-per-view event of the year. In doing so, she became the new women's bantamweight champion.
Pennington outworked Silva over the course of five rounds to take home the unanimous decision win and secure the belt that was vacated by Amanda Nunes in 2023. After capturing the belt, 'Rocky' called out former champion Julianna Pena.
Pena subsequently spoke to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour and gave her thoughts on a potential matchup with Pennington. She said:
"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." [h/t - MMA Junkie]
Check out Julianna Pena's interview here (17:47 for her comments):
For her part, Pennington has also called out Pena, and both women appear open to the challenge of facing each other for the strap. Pena has also expressed a dislike for Pennington and said that a fight between the two was overdue at this point.
Given Pena's insistence on facing Pennington in the summer, we may very well see these two women face off sooner rather than later.
When did the Raquel Pennington-Julianna Pena rivalry begin?
Raquel Pennington and Julianna Pena competed in season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter, all the way back in 2013. The two were teammates under Miesha Tate, and did very well in the competition.
Pennington ended up losing in the semi-finals, while Pena would go on to defeat Jessica Rakoczy, the woman who beat Pennington, in the finals. The two have been fated to clash ever since.
Pena, in an appearance on the MMA Hour, stated that she worked harder than Pennington, who was always "sleeping" when the two were teammates on The Ultimate Fighter.
Pena was initially set to face Amanda Nunes in a trilogy bout in July of 2023. Nunes, who was champion then, was 1-1 with Pena. 'The Venezuelan Vixen' was forced to withdraw from the fight due to injury.
Nunes would go on to defeat Irene Aldana in what would be her final fight. After the bout, she called time on her storied career and vacated the belt, which Raquel Pennington would later claim at UFC 297.
