Julianna Peña has been in the octagon with some of the best women ever to compete in MMA, but it’s her next opponent that she is most eager to beat.
The UFC bantamweight champion hasn’t officially booked her matchup with No. 1 contender Kayla Harrison, but all signs point to that grudge match happening with Peña having regained the title at UFC 307 this past October and Harrison defeating Ketlen Vieira on that same card to stay on track for a championship opportunity.
During an appearance on the Overdogs podcast, Peña was asked if she’d be interested in avenging any of her most famous losses—Amanda Nunes, Valentina Shevchenko, and Germaine de Randamie—but she made it clear that a win over Harrison would top them all.
“Kayla Harrison, absolutely,” Peña said. “Because that’s fresh, that’s current. I don’t want to be living in the past, I don’t want to be stuck in the past. I want to be moving forward and keep things pushing over here and that’s Kayla Harrison, that’s the one that I have my eyes on, that’s my target, that’s my goal, and it would mean the most to me.
“And I’m not unfamiliar to this territory. I was an 11-to-1 underdog with Amanda Nunes, so 7-to-1, that’s pretty good.”
That statement comes as news to some, given Peña has frequently called for Nunes to come out of retirement for a trilogy bout. Peña scored a shock upset of Nunes to win her first title when they fought at UFC 269 in December 2021, only to drop the title back to Nunes seven months later at UFC 277. Though Nunes has occasionally teased a comeback, “The Lioness” appears content to stay dormant for now.
Peña appears to have moved on from that rivalry with Harrison in her sights, though she says there’s still plenty of negotiating to be done before their fight is official.
“Everybody knows that we’re supposed to fight,” Peña said. “Everybody knows that’s the biggest fight in mixed martial arts history, that that fight is going to be exciting, and that that’s going to be the one to watch and to keep your eye out for. It’s not like some big secret. It’s not like I’m going to be like, ‘I’m fighting Amanda Nunes!’ Everyone knows that me and Kayla are supposed to fight.
“The date hasn’t been announced. The location hasn’t been announced. So I think that there’s some key puzzle pieces that need to come into play. Contracts, venues, making sure that we have a place to actually fight. That hasn’t been announced, that is to be determined, but as far as who I’m fighting, it’s not a secret. Everybody knows it’s Kayla.”
Depending where one looks, Peña is as high as a 5-to-1 underdog while Harrison is coming in as a -700 favorite. As Peña pointed out, this is hardly news to her, as she feels she’s often overlooked despite her being a two-time UFC champion.
She offered a theory as to why the oddsmakers are quick to count her out and why that same reasoning can lead to her having the edge on fight night.
“I think that one of the reasons why I’m an underdog or why I always get overlooked or why people are always counting me out is because maybe I’m not the most technically sound,” Peña said. “Maybe I don’t throw the Rock ‘em Sock ‘em punches perfectly and make everything perfect, where I’m just so technical. Maybe I didn’t train martial arts or throw my very first punch until I was 19 years old and never was in wrestling as a young kid or judo as a young kid or never in any martial arts until that time of throwing a punch for the first time at 19 years old, and maybe don’t have the experience that these other girls have.
“But I’ve always had this one thing that has set me apart from everybody else and that is my mindset and the mental toughness, the grit and the belief in myself that I can do anything and I’ve never put a ceiling on myself as far as what I’m capable of doing. I have always believed that I can and when you have that mental toughness of I don’t care what you do, I’m still going to get up and keep coming at you a million miles an hour, it’s really hard to defeat someone like that. When you throw the kitchen sink at someone and they say, ‘Is that all you got?’ It’s mentally defeating for them and it’s like, ‘What do I got to do kill this person?’ and I’m just on the other side like Terminator. You’re going to have to literally cut my head off in order to get me to stop because I will not stop and I think that attitude of never giving up or never stopping and always being relentless no matter what is kind of why I’ve had any amount of success that I’ve had because I might get thrown on my head, but then you’re going to have to be careful about what I do after I get thrown on my head. I may get taken down, but then you’re going to have to be worrying about you getting elbowed in the face or punched because I’m not going to lay down and I will not lay down.”
TOP STORIES
Roundtable. Is this the end of Alex Pereira’s glorious championship run? Plus more UFC 313 storylines.
Duck. A growing number of fans are calling for Jon Jones to fight Tom Aspinall or vacate his heavyweight belt.
Charity. Pereira wants to raise the stakes for his fight with Magomed Ankalaev (all for a good cause, of course).
Statement. The NYAC is investigating the controversial knee taken in the Tank Davis vs. Lamont Roach fight.
PLEASE. Eddie Hall says a fight with KSW and World’s Strongest Man legend Mariusz Pudzianowski is happening.
VIDEO STEW
UFC 313 Timeline.
Workout tips from The Ultimate Fighter 30’s Bobby Maximus.
The one that rocked the timeline.
The MMA media drama is real.
Yup, this happened.
Submission Radio talks to Dan Hardy.
FLAVOR IN YOUR EAR
Fighter vs. Writer. MMA Fighting’s Damon Martin talks to Matt Brown about where Alex Pereira’s head is at heading into Saturday’s title defense.
SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE
The fight was only the beginning.
Yaaassssss.
Callout.
Hey @robwhittakermma stop calling guys ahead of you in the rankings after u lose a fight bro!
— Caio Borralho (@BorralhoCaio) March 3, 2025
Let’s fight UFC 317 June 29 on International Fight Week!
What do you think?
What do you all fans think?
Legend.
Rest in Peace, Buvaisar! pic.twitter.com/1IPyapjRT8
— United World Wrestling (@wrestling) March 3, 2025
Not a legend.
Rugby.
Uh huh.
Mark Shapiro on the APEX cards:
— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) March 3, 2025
“When you’re watching on TV, you can’t tell if you’re in a stadium or an arena or you’re at the small but mighty APEX we have in Las Vegas.”#UFC
How much money do you f*cking need TKO. You’re ruining the sport https://t.co/aLnZqxLXNY
— Brendan Schaub (@BrendanSchaub) March 3, 2025
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Chris Gutierrez (21-6-2) vs. John Castaneda (21-7); UFC 313, March 8
Modestas Bukauskas (17-6) vs. Ion Cutelaba (19-10-1, 1 NC); UFC 315, May 10
Navajo Stirling (6-0) vs. Ivan Erslan (14-4, 1 NC); UFC 315, May 10
FINAL THOUGHTS
Julianna Peña vs. Kayla Harrison has got to happen sometime in the first half of 2025, right? Not that they’re exactly holding up a stacked division (Norma Dumont wants a piece!), but this is a championship fight people actually want to see so let’s hope it gets pinned down sooner rather than later.
EXIT POLL
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