Where does Julianna Peña go with a potential title loss against Kayla Harrison at UFC 316? Exploring the possibilities

At UFC 316, Julianna Peña defends her women's bantamweight title against the streaking Kayla Harrison. The matchup co-headlines the event and many expect Harrison to walk away as the new champion of the women's 135-pound weight class due to her superior grappling and physicality.

While 'The Venezuelan Vixen' is tough and scrappy enough to turn their bout into a dog-fight and win through heart and grit, she isn't favored to do so. So, if she loses, what would her future in the sport look like?

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Julianna Peña cannot afford to lose at UFC 316

Despite being a two-time UFC women's bantamweight champion, Julianna Peña hasn't been dominant throughout her career. She is 12-5, which is a relatively poor record, and she has never successfully defended any of the titles she's won, despite having held the belt twice.

To make matters worse, her recent UFC 307 split-decision win over Raquel Pennington, which earned her the belt, was largely controversial, with many believing Pennington had done enough to merit the nod on the scorecards. Another failure to defend a title that many believe she didn't deserve to win in the first place will almost certainly be damaging to her career.

Win streaks are hard to come by for Peña. In fact, her first title fight with Amanda Nunes at UFC 269 was not earned off the back of a win streak. At the time, Peña had just one win since a stunning submission loss to Germaine de Randamie at UFC Fight Island 4. Meanwhile, her fight with Pennington came directly after a loss.

So the possibility of Peña bouncing back from a likely loss to Harrison by authoring a win streak to earn yet another crack at the title seems unlikely. There are also no proper grudge matches for her to pursue or losses to avenge either.

Valentina Shevchenko, who submitted her at UFC on Fox 23 has been a women's flyweight fighter for years, and Peña is too big to cut to 125 pounds. Her loss to de Randamie won't be one she can avenge either, as the Dutch striker is now retired. There is also no women's featherweight division for her to move to.

Her only option will likely be to rematch Pennington and silence all talk of a robbery.