Murder?! Bueno Silva ‘Will Kill’ Pena

Mayra Bueno Silva and Julianna Pena’s budding rivalry is only getting more and more volatile.

The women’s Bantamweight title will have a new owner come UFC 297 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on Jan. 20, 2024. In the co-main event, Brazil’s Bueno Silva takes on veteran perennial contender and one-time title challenger, Raquel Pennington, for the vacant strap.

The former champion, Pena, was expected to act as one-half of the impending bout. However, the “Venezuelan Vixen” recently revealed she’s still suffering some lingering effects from her rib injury that forced her out of her title trilogy bout with Amanda Nunes at UFC 289 in June 2023. Therefore, Pena missed the upcoming opportunity and has since stated she’ll await the Bueno Silva vs. Pennington winner. Bueno Silva, of course, expects that to be her and has a message for her rival.

“Hey, Julianna,” Bueno Silva said on The MMA Hour. “I will kill you.

“When you talk about mental health, you show you’re not good people,” she continued. “Everyone knows I had problems with anxiety because of my mental health. When you use this to promote yourself, it’s not a good person.”

Bueno Silva will enter her first career title bout off a no-contest against Holly Holm this past July 2023. Originally a second round ninja choke victory (watch highlights), Bueno Silva’s win was overturned after she tested positive for Ritalin.

Should Pena end up facing the Bueno Silva vs. Pennington winner as she expects, it will be her first fight since losing a unanimous decision to the aforementioned Nunes in August 2022 (watch highlights).

“Look, the girl thinks she’s the champion but she’s not the champion,” Bueno Silva said. “Can someone please tell her she lost the last fight [against Nunes]? When she had an opportunity, she ran away from Amanda. Now she ran again. You know the toy, the chicken you squeeze, and the chicken, ‘squawk squawk,’ Julianna is like that. Julianna only talks bulls—t. She’s not a great fighter. She runs from every opportunity. She’s a noisy chicken.”