UFC bantamweight Julianna Pena looking to reclaim her title in Pennington challenge

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UFC bantamweight Julianna Pena looking to reclaim her title in Pennington challenge  02/10/2024  Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA  Julianna Peña (12-5, fighting out of Spokane, Wash.) looks to reclaim the championship from Pennington and kickstart a second title run No. 1 ranked UFC women’s bantamweight Six wins via submission, three by knockout Four first-round finishes

Transcript

00:00Obviously a big fight on a title that you've wanted back since your last fight and against

00:23an opponent that I feel like you've kind of been circling for pretty much both of your

00:27entire career.

00:28How was camp and I guess what are the emotions now that are only a few days removed from

00:32this fight that you've been calling for?

00:34Camp was amazing.

00:35I feel like I've been thinking about this fight for the last 18 months.

00:39There is a part of it that feels surreal.

00:41I can't believe that it's actually here.

00:42It doesn't feel real, but I'm happy, I'm motivated, I'm excited, I'm ready to go.

00:48Has it felt like one long fight camp for you because even after Amanda's last fight and

00:53she retired Dana White at the post fight in Vancouver, it was like, you know, Juliana's

00:56probably going to fight for the title.

00:58Whoever she's fighting next and obviously you weren't ready to go.

01:01So has this just felt like one long drawn out fight camp since your last fight?

01:05I'll tell you the hardest part for me in all of my preparations is never my opponent.

01:12It's always myself and making sure that my body is healthy, willing and able to carry

01:16me through the fight.

01:17So yes, it's always felt like one big fight in order to get to the actual fight and it's

01:22not necessarily about anything else other than is my body willing and able and is it

01:26going to carry me through to get inside the octagon.

01:29And obviously the big story is, you know, from your time on The Ultimate Fighter to

01:32now I think you guys are the only two fighters left from that season still in the UFC.

01:37So I'm curious, did you ever think Raquel would get to this point, like when you were

01:40sharing a room with her and training with her and being around her, did you see her

01:44ever reaching the championship or fighting for the title even back then?

01:48I have to be honest and I don't mean this in any sort of disrespectful way, but I've

01:53never thought about Raquel and her fighting and what she's doing and how her career is

01:57going and the trajectory of how she's going.

01:59It's always just been a focus on me and myself and what I know I can do.

02:03Were you surprised that she was the one welcoming you back with the title?

02:06Because I know you and Myra had some issues and people thought it would be you two matched

02:10up and then Raquel stepped in.

02:12Did you ever think it would be her holding the belt when you would return?

02:16No, to answer your question, no.

02:19I did not.

02:20However, I will say that she has earned the opportunity and she did everything that she

02:25needed to do in order to get gold.

02:29To me it has always felt almost like she was fighting for an interim, just because I fell

02:33out with Amanda and I wasn't able to make that fight.

02:39Let me also piggyback that with, it was my fault.

02:43It was my fault that I wasn't able to fight with Amanda and it was my fault that she was

02:46fighting for an interim.

02:49The only person that I can blame is myself.

02:51She said that you've been avoiding sighting the dotted line for a long time.

02:55She said that in a few interviews now.

02:56Were you guys ever matched up after the Ultimate Fighter?

02:59No, and that's the part that doesn't make sense.

03:00We've never had a fight.

03:01They've never offered me Raquel.

03:03They never said to fight Raquel.

03:06Ever since I won the Ultimate Fighter, I have always been looking in front of my windshield.

03:09I've never been looking in the rearview mirror.

03:12I've always been going up the ladder and I haven't been focusing too much down the ladder.

03:16You also said that she even prepared for two fights for this, Kayla and Juliana, in

03:20case Juliana pulls out again or anything like that.

03:23Do you think she's just saying that or do you think she actually did try to prepare

03:26for two fights?

03:27The only reason why I laughed at that statement is I was like, yeah, it's true.

03:31I always do get injured, so it's good for her.

03:36She will have realized that she made a mistake on Saturday night.

03:39And the last one for me, I think you were in Manchester, correct?

03:42Yes, sir, I was.

03:43To watch Bilal.

03:44At his media day, he said that Chicago sports isn't in the best shape right now and he wanted

03:48to kind of take that mantle and run with it as the champion in Chicago.

03:52So I guess, what was it like seeing him win the title and then possibly getting the second

03:55title back to Chicago?

03:56Well, that was my hope, too, when I won it the first time.

03:59I won the belt.

04:00I brought it back to the lake and I was trying to make Chicago sports scene, trying to motivate

04:04those Bears and trying to motivate all the White Sox and anybody else I could that was

04:09playing professional sports in Chicago.

04:13Not so much my luck there, but Bilal's doing a great job of representing the city of Chicago

04:17and I'm looking forward to bringing the belt back again so that we can both, especially

04:21coming from the same gym, be representing Chicago and being champions and hopefully

04:26motivating the other teams to step up their game.

04:29Yeah, it's not looking too hot for the White Sox.

04:33Juliana Redd over here.

04:38You're one of the few fighters on this card who can say that they've competed in Utah

04:41before.

04:42Right before you got to the Ultimate Fighter, you competed here in Orem, Utah.

04:46Is that kind of a leg up for you, knowing that you've tested the waters of this elevation,

04:49which is always a storyline coming into Salt Lake City?

04:52I will say it's what gives me confidence.

04:54I'll take you back to that time period in my life.

04:59In February of that year, I got ran over by a car walking on the sidewalk.

05:04A few months later, not even, my instructor, who's also a promoter in Spokane, Washington,

05:10said, my main event fell out, and I need you to step up on short notice.

05:15It had only been a couple of months since I had my nose shattered, which is this gigantic

05:19scar you see here, and since I jacked up my neck and my back from getting ran over.

05:23I took the fight on short notice.

05:24I got armbarred in front of all my friends and family, and I was so upset because I was

05:29like, I quit.

05:30I'm done.

05:31It was so embarrassing.

05:32It was my first loss experiencing that.

05:33I was very embarrassed, but I was done with the sport.

05:37The hearing that I was done, he said, called me up, you have a fight in less than two weeks.

05:44I was about 153 pounds or something like that, and I had to make 125 here in Salt Lake City.

05:50On two weeks' notice, I cut.

05:53I missed weight for the first and last time in my career at 127.

05:58They did not give me the pound, which I think I needed another pound, too.

06:03Anyways, I was at 127.

06:04I came in.

06:05I remember my instructor pulling me out of the sauna by the scruff of my neck because

06:10I had passed out in the sauna, and we thought I was dead.

06:14They didn't give me an IV.

06:15They wouldn't let me rehydrate.

06:16My hands were cramped up like this, and I lost a hometown decision to a girl from here,

06:20Salt Lake City.

06:21So, for me, it was like, wow, if that doesn't give you the confidence that you can fight

06:25in Salt Lake City on two weeks' notice, coming off of the couch, doing absolutely nothing

06:29and going to a decision which you could say, you know, obviously, I'm always going to be

06:33biased.

06:34It could have gone either way.

06:36So, for me, that is another thing that gives me a little added confidence, like, that I'll

06:41be okay.

06:42Given that tumultuous lead-up to that fight, is there some sort of a personal redemption

06:46arc for you here, trying to look back and get that title back?

06:49Absolutely.

06:50Absolutely.

06:51For me, that was one of the challenges that I wanted to give to myself, is, you know,

06:55back then, it wasn't in your favor, but this time, it's going to be different.

06:59That's it.

07:01Julianna, right over here.

07:05You said that this is the biggest fight of your life and the most important fight of

07:09your career.

07:10Did that lead to any different preparations or, you know, training coming into this one,

07:15any more intensity than normal?

07:18I know that this is going to sound cliche, but every single fight that I fight is the

07:21biggest fight of my life.

07:22But I feel like, especially at this day and age, the window of fighting, for me, narrows

07:31day by day by day.

07:32I am not no spring chicken no more.

07:34I'm not 21 years old, you know?

07:36But with that being said, comes experience, comes a bit of wiseness in the game.

07:44I feel like, again, every fight is the biggest fight of my life, but especially this one,

07:48because I'm going for gold again, and you're not going to get 100 chances to fight for

07:51the belt.

07:52It took me a long time of calling for the belt and calling for the belt to want to get

07:56to this point.

07:57And now that I'm at this point, it's to maintain, and I'm always going to be in these championship

08:02fights.

08:03So these are gigantic fights for me, and I'm going to do everything that I can to seize

08:06the moment.

08:08And Raquel said that, in the end, it's going to come down to who wants this more.

08:12How confident are you that you want this championship victory more than your opponent?

08:16I believe that I want this opportunity and that this championship belt means more to

08:21me than it does to her.

08:23And it's very clear when you match us up side by side, Raquel has not been a good representation

08:32of the women's bantamweight division.

08:33She has not promoted.

08:35She has said no to embedded.

08:36She has constantly done everything that she can to avoid being the face of women's MMA

08:41and not being that big face that wants to promote and be that great representation of

08:45women's MMA.

08:46That, to me, is you're telling me nothing, but you're showing me everything, or you're

08:49showing me nothing, but you're telling me everything by not being that person that is

08:55letting everybody know that you're fighting.

08:57I want to be that person.

08:58That's my role, and I can do it better.

09:00And that's why I believe that I'm going to be able to seal the deal on Saturday night

09:04and get that gold again.

09:05And last question from me.

09:07How has your coach, Wayne Gregory, helped and influenced you throughout your MMA journey

09:12up to this point, now getting ready to fight for this title?

09:16If you go back and you YouTube Wayne's name, you'll see many knockouts, many fights.

09:21He's been fighting since he was, or he's been, he learned how to fight and learned how to

09:25box at five years old, and he has his own career that he had as a fighter.

09:31It started in the United States, and then it moved to Thailand, and then it came back

09:34to the United States.

09:35So when it comes to picking a brain of another fighter who can give you advice and guidance,

09:40I feel incredibly grateful and blessed and honored to be able to learn from him, as well

09:45as my other coaches, Mike Valli and Luis Claudio.

09:48These are experts in their field.

09:50I feel like I have the best team of experts around me.

09:53It's not just about Wayne, but it's a collective whole.

09:56And when I know that I have experts in jiu-jitsu, experts in mixed martial arts, experts in

10:00boxing and Muay Thai, I feel like, wow, I am really, they are setting the stage for

10:06me.

10:07They are setting the table for me to just go in there and do my job, and they make it

10:10easy because of the preparation that they give to me.

10:13Julianna, one more over here.

10:16When you were talking about how, like, Raquel, she hasn't been this representation of women's

10:19MMA because she's not promoting, is it, like, I know you're focused on the fight on Saturday,

10:24but there's obviously this big name that's also on this card in Kayla, and I think when

10:28you fought Amanda, that brought a lot of eyeballs to the sport because people always said Amanda

10:32needed a foil that could challenge her on the mic.

10:35And Kayla seems to be already promoting a fight with you, and you don't even have a

10:39fight lined up yet against her.

10:41So are you looking, not looking past Raquel, but, like, are you kind of excited about the

10:46possibility of just the buildup to a fight with Kayla Harrison and the press conferences

10:50and the medias and the embeddeds that it could lead to in the eyes on this division?

10:54Again, I like how you phrased that question because you said not looking past Raquel.

10:59My goal, my job is to be looking in front of my windshield right now, and Raquel is

11:04in front of my windshield right now.

11:06Kayla's in the rearview mirror.

11:08Kayla has a job to do, and I have a job to do.

11:10I need to get my hand raised on Saturday night.

11:13When that happens, then we can talk about Kayla, but right now it's all about me and

11:16Raquel Pennington.

11:18Obviously, this fight's been a long time coming, so how do you see it playing out on Saturday?

11:26The way that I see the fight playing out is getting my hand raised.

11:28I am confident in my preparation.

11:33I will tell you that once that cage door closes, I haven't seen anybody that has the mindset,

11:39the determination, the will, and the grit that I possess.

11:43I think that that's what's going to carry me through to victory.

11:46Obviously, I know that you're focused on your fight, but who do you have in the main event?

11:54I don't know.

11:57I haven't given a lot of watch to the countdown and to Embedded to be able to give my little

12:06crystal ball predictions of who I think is going to win.

12:09I like both gentlemen.

12:10I think that they're both excellent fighters, and I know that the fans are in for an exciting

12:16and an incredible main event.

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