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Julianna Pena suffered a gruesome injury to her right knee during a grappling session at her gym seven years ago.
The MMA community was shocked by this news back in January 2014, with UFC president Dana White claiming that a male member at the Sikjitsu gym caused Pena’s injury.
White suggested that Pena would likely be better off leaving Sikjitsu. ‘The Venezuelan Vixen’ has been a member of the gym since 2008 and is associated with it to this day.
Pena later appeared on The Jason Ellis Show to shed light upon the incident that caused the knee injury. She stated:
“What happened was, I wasn't even wearing an Ultimate Fighter shirt, because the kid told me he thought it was an Ultimate Fighter rash guard. But, here's the thing, it's a gray rash guard, okay? It had a little UFC emblem on it. I was wearing that, I was late. So, when I got there, he was like ‘hurry up, let's go.' So, I get on the mat, I hit the clock, and he says, ‘Oh, you're wearing your Ultimate Fighter rash guard. I was like, what's that supposed to mean? ‘That you're really tough, I'm really scared.' I'm like, whatever, and we slapped hands, and a minute later, my knee was tore out.” (*Quotes courtesy: MMA Mania)
Julianna Pena suffered extensive damage to her knee – tearing her meniscus, ACL, MCL and LCL. She was scheduled to fight Jessica Andrade in a bantamweight bout at UFC 171 in March 2014. However, Pena withdrew from the fight due to her knee injury. Thankfully, she made a full recovery and returned to the octagon in 2015.
Julianna Pena has her sights set on multiple rematches in the aftermath of her spectacular win at UFC 269
Julianna Pena defeated Amanda Nunes via second-round submission at UFC 269 to become the new UFC women’s bantamweight champion. Pena has offered Nunes a rematch, depending on whether ‘The Lioness’ wants to run it back.
Furthermore, Pena also emphasized that she’d like to avenge her losses to Valentina Shevchenko and Germaine de Randamie. During the UFC 269 post-fight press conference, Pena said:
“I think there are some rematches I want to do. I would like to go down and rematch Valentina Shevchenko, I would love to get that rematch against Germaine de Randamie, I would love a rematch – if that’s what she wants – against Amanda Nunes. Those are the rematches that I have in my peripheral.”
