Julianna Pena is adamant that bantamweight is the best division in women’s MMA.
Peña (11-4 MMA, 7-2 UFC) dethroned former UFC dual champion Amanda Nunes to capture the 135-pound title last December and wasn’t looking to rematch Nunes (21-5 MMA, 14-2 UFC) at featherweight. Peña explains that her division is the most stacked and even took a shot at former foe Valentina Shevchenko when making her point.
Shevchenko’s lone octagon losses both came to Nunes at bantamweight, and she holds a submission win over Peña in 2017. Since the women’s flyweight division was introduced in 2017, Shevchenko has ruled it, notching seven title defenses. But Peña thinks the tougher challenges are at bantamweight.
“For the most part, the (145-pound) division – which has two people in it, honestly I really can’t name more than two – is just girls in the 35 that don’t want to cut weight so then they just move up to 45,” Peña told Yahoo Sports!. “Then they had to create a whole other division at 125 because Valentina couldn’t beat Amanda two times, so then they went and cut weight and created a division for her to move down to 125. The real fights, the best fights are at 135.”
Peña plans on sticking around at bantamweight. She sees plenty of challenges ahead in her division and doesn’t think it makes sense for her to go after Nunes’ featherweight title.
“Now that I’ve become the champion, I’ve opened up the door to a whole list of girls that are gunning for a shot at me,” Peña added. “That is what I wanted. That is what I called for, and I’m in this division to fight the best of the best, so I’ve got a lot of work to be done at 135 before I start being lazy and not wanting to make the weight class anymore.”
Peña rematches Nunes in Saturday’s UFC 277 main event, which takes place at American Airlines Center in Dallas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ABC/ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 277.
