Dumont: Pena ‘Gift’ Title Shot Is ‘Slap In The Face To The Division’

“She got the full beating that she took three nights of beatings worth in one night. That was the real Julianna right there.”

The UFC women’s bantamweight division is not happy with its current state of affairs in the title picture.

135 pounds as a whole has collectively regrouped a bit since the longtime reigning queenpin Amanda Nunes retired in June 2023. Therefore, it led to the vacant title acquisition going to The Ultimate Fighter 18 (TUF) veteran, Raquel Pennington. “Rocky” won the title via a unanimous decision against Mayra Bueno Silva at UFC 297 this past January.

Before Pennington makes her first title defense against the former champion Julianna Pena at UFC 307 in October, multiple top contender battles will unfold, starting with Brazil’s Norma Dumont vs. Mexico’s Irene Aldana. Dumont, 33, looks to extend her winning streak to five (11-2 overall) by taking out the one-time title challenger at Noche UFC on Sept. 14 inside the Las Vegas Sphere. Like her fellow Brazilian contender with a big upcoming fight, Ketlen Vieira, Dumont also is none too pleased with the promotion’s title fight decision.

“It was really a slap in the face of the entire division,” Dumont told MMA Mania. “Julianna, who hasn’t really won any fights, hasn’t fought in so long, and even though she beat Amanda, it was the day Amanda just wasn’t Amanda. She just wasn’t there. Then in the other fight, she got the full beating that she took three nights of beatings worth in one night. That was the real Julianna right there.

“Then she comes back after two and a half years of running away from any fight offered to her to then be given a gift and fighting for the belt. Yeah, it’s very not good. A slap in the face of the division, but also not the first time that it has happened.”

Pena’s return title shot against Pennington will be her first fight since she lost the title in her Nunes rematch in July 2022. Nunes won the fight via a unanimous decision before her retirement victory over Aldana.

Ultimately, Dumont feels the Bueno Silva title shot revealed a lack of depth at 135 pounds but with the emergence of new contenders like herself and Kayla Harrison, there’s freshness at the top. As for the title fight itself, Dumont predicts we hear “and still” on fight night. However, that’s not to say she’s too impressed with the current titleholder.

“I think Raquel wins this fight, not because I think she’s a dominant champion, because I don’t think that,” Dumont said. “I think Julianna is just that bad. I mean, she got submitted by Germaine [de Randamie]. I mean, come on. So, it’s weird to say Raquel is gonna win something, but I think she wins this one.”

A win over Aldana would put Dumont in a prime position to fight for the title or at least make her case. With Vieira vs. Harrison happening on the same night as Pennington vs. Pena, Dumont knows that her performance will be critical to her chances of leapfrogging that fight’s winner.

“I was already supposed to be fighting for the belt at featherweight but because of how the top four [at bantamweight] is really tight right now, I think I might need to fight one more time before the belt,” Dumont said of a possible win over Aldana. “Everybody has their fights scheduled right now so who knows? I think it will depend on how everybody performs. I don’t think it’s impossible and I will be ready.

“I believe this is going to be my best performance yet in the UFC. I think that my experience and the things that I experienced eliminated some doubts and some obstacles that I had inside the octagon. The Norma that you’ll see in September is the best version of Norma that you’ll have ever seen before.”