Pena Eyes Quick Turnaround Following Submission Loss

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC

Julianna Pena’s climb to the top of the women’s Bantamweight division suffered another setback last night (Sat., Oct. 3, 2020) after she was submitted by Germaine de Randamie at UFC Fight Island 4 in Abu Dhabi.

After a back-and-forth match up, “Iron Lady” managed to sing in a tight guillotine choke in the third and final frame, ultimately putting “Venezuelan Vixen” to sleep since she didn’t get the chance to tap. Undeterred, Pena is eying a quick turnaround following the loss.

“You win some, you learn some. Wasn’t my night! Massive Congratulations to Germaine de Randamie it was an honor to compete against you and thank you for your service of upholding the #thinblueline,” she said on Instagram.

“I can’t wait to get back to this little love of mine!! I’ve missed her so much! Your kids don’t always follow your advice, a lot of times they follow your example. I’m uninjured and Don’t want to take too much time off.

“I want to show my daughter that just because things didn’t go my way, doesn’t mean I quit or give up on my goals! This is a game of inches and I will hold my head up high and move on to my next challenge! Thank you to everyone who has supported me in my fight journey and sorry I didn’t walk away with the Win. And to those of you just tuning in, get your popcorn ready because I’ll be back soon!”

The loss was Pena’s second in last three outings with her other loss coming to current women’s Flyweight champion, Valentina Shevchenko. Sandwiched in between those defeats is her win over former 125-poud champion, Nicco Montano.

“Venezuelan Vixen” came into the promotion with a lot of hype stemming from The Ultimate Fighter (TUF), though she hasn’t been able to capitalize on it after sitting on the sidelines due to her pregnancy and an subsequent injury.

Ranked No. 4 in the division, Pena isn’t too far out of it, so a few wins could put her back into the position to take part in a title eliminator bout.

For complete UFC Fight Island 4 results and coverage click here.