Julianna Pena News

Chris Taylor - June 7, 2025

Tonight’s UFC 316 event was co-headlined by a women’s bantamweight title fight between Kayla Harrison and Julianna Pena. Pena (12-6 MMA) recaptured the promotion’s bantamweight title in her most previous effort this past October at UFC 307, scoring a controversial split decision victory over Raquel Pennington. Prior that the win, ‘The Venezuelan Vixen’ had suffered a lopsided decision loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 277.

Chris Taylor - June 7, 2025

We have you covered for all of tonight’s UFC 316 results, including the women’s bantamweight title fight between Julianna Pena and Kayla Harrison. Pena (12-6 MMA) recaptured the promotion’s bantamweight title this past October at UFC 307, scoring a controversial split decision victory over Raquel Pennington. Prior that the win, ‘The Venezuelan Vixen’ had suffered a lopsided decision loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 277.

Chris Taylor - June 7, 2025

The Octagon returns to New Jersey for tonight’s UFC 316 event, a 13-bout fight card headlined by Merab Dvalishvili vs. Sean O’Malley 2. Dvalishvili (19-4 MMA) will be competing for the first time since scoring his first successful title defense against Umar Nurmagomedov at January’s UFC 311 event in California. ‘The Machine’ will enter this evening’s headliner sporting a 12-fight winning streak, which includes victories over former UFC champions Petr Yan, Henry Cejudo and Jose Aldo.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - June 6, 2025

Amanda Nunes has made a prediction for the big women’s bantamweight title fight at UFC 316 this Saturday. Julianna Pena will look to silence the doubters once again, as she will put her gold at stake against Kayla Harrison. The challenger is a massive betting favorite going into the title bout. Pena has been in this spot before, as she submitted Nunes in a shocking upset in late 2021. While Pena lost the rematch against “The Lioness” in a one-sided affair, “The Venezuelan Vixen” has proven to be a live underdog.

Cole Shelton - June 5, 2025

In the co-main event of UFC 316 in Newark, New Jersey, on Saturday, the women’s bantamweight title is up for grabs as Julianna Pena defends her belt against Kayla Harrison. Heading into the fight, Pena is a massive +450 underdog while the challenger is a -720 favorite on FanDuel. Ahead of the scrap at UFC 316, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro fighters to get their predictions for the women’s bantamweight title fight. The pros expect Harrison to become the new champ, but many fighters think it will be a much closer fight than the odds suggest.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - June 5, 2025

Julianna Pena believes she won’t be given respect if she defeats Kayla Harrison at UFC 316. Pena is set to put the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship at stake against Harrison on Saturday. The title fight will be held inside the Prudential Center in Newark. Pena is in her second reign as the 135-pound titleholder and she’s looking for her first successful title defense.

Harry Kettle - June 5, 2025

UFC champion Julianna Pena believes Belal Muhammad was robbed by the judges in his UFC 315 main event against Jack Della Maddalena. Last month, in the main event of UFC 315, Belal Muhammad failed to successfully defend his UFC welterweight championship. He put up a solid effort against Jack Della Maddalena and even had some success on the feet, but ultimately, he just wasn’t able to keep up with the exciting Australian star.

Harry Kettle - June 5, 2025

Kayla Harrison has given her thoughts on the trash talk being thrown her way from UFC 316 opponent Julianna Pena. On Saturday night, Kayla Harrison will finally get her shot at winning UFC gold. She will challenge for the women’s bantamweight championship in the co-main event of UFC 316, and she’ll do so against Julianna Pena – someone who has had more than a few things to say about her recently.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - May 25, 2025

Kayla Harrison’s manager believes Julianna Pena is in for a rough night at UFC 316. Harrison is scheduled to challenge Pena for the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship in the co-main event of UFC 316 on June 7. It’ll be Harrison’s first crack at UFC gold. Pena will look for her first successful title defense in her second reign.

Harry Kettle - May 7, 2025

UFC champion Julianna Pena has accused Kayla Harrison of using steroids as the countdown to their UFC 316 fight continues. As we know, Julianna Pena is a pretty controversial figure when it comes to MMA fans. While she’s a two-time bantamweight world champion in the UFC, she has a tendency to rattle people with some of the comments she makes. It’s often because she’s trying to get under the skin of her opponents, and that’s certainly the case with her upcoming UFC 316 clash with Kayla Harrison.

Harry Kettle - April 21, 2025

UFC star Kayla Harrison has given her thoughts on Julianna Pena’s trash talk ahead of their big title fight at UFC 316. As we know, Kayla Harrison is set to challenge Julianna Pena for the UFC women’s bantamweight championship at UFC 316. It will serve as the culmination of a journey that has been years in the making for Kayla, who has always sought out a shot at a UFC title. Now, she’ll get it, and she’ll be going against a seasoned veteran in the form of two-time UFC champion Julianna Pena.

Harry Kettle - April 9, 2025

UFC star Kayla Harrison has admitted that she wants to be able to respect her upcoming UFC 316 opponent Julianna Pena. At UFC 316 later this year, Kayla Harrison will attempt to become a UFC world champion. She’ll do so by locking horns with Julianna Pena, a woman who she’s been linked with fighting for a long time now. When you take a look at the current state of women’s mixed martial arts, you could probably argue that this is one of the most intriguing – and certainly important – fights that can be made right now.

Josh Evanoff - March 4, 2025

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Julianna Pena doesn’t care about the odds ahead of her fight against Kayla Harrison. ‘The Venezuelan Vixen’ has been out of the cage since her title fight against Raquel Pennington last October. In the co-main event of UFC 307, Julianna Pena ended a two-year layoff to hand ‘Rocky’ a split-decision loss. In the process, she re-won the same gold she lost to Amanda Nunes in their rematch.

Josh Evanoff - January 3, 2025

If Julianna Pena can’t fight, Norma Dumont wants to face Kayla Harrison for interim UFC gold. The UFC’s women’s bantamweight division is in a bit of a weird spot. Amanda Nunes famously vacated the gold in the summer of 2023, retiring following a decision win over Irene Aldana. A few months later, Raquel Pennington claimed the gold with a unanimous decision victory over Mayra Bueno Silva, in a dismal bout.

Josh Evanoff - October 14, 2024

The UFC reportedly wants to book Amanda Nunes against the winner of Julianna Pena vs. Kayla Harrison. ‘The Veneluzen Vixen’ returned to the octagon in the co-main event of UFC 307 earlier this month. There, Julianna Pena competed for the first time since her defeat against Amanda Nunes in the summer of 2022. For her first fight back, the former champion faced new bantamweight titleholder, Raquel Pennington.

Harry Kettle - October 9, 2024

MMA analyst Chael Sonnen believes Raquel Pennington has earned the right to receive an immediate rematch against Julianna Pena. Last weekend, Raquel Pennington put up a great fight against Julianna Pena at UFC 307. She was defending her UFC women’s bantamweight championship but unfortunately, in the eyes of the judges, she didn’t quite do enough to get over the finish line.

Curtis Calhoun - October 7, 2024

UFC bantamweight contender Kayla Harrison believes her absence from Julianna Peña’s post-fight callout at UFC 307 was calculated. Harrison and Peña both secured wins at UFC 307 last weekend in Salt Lake City. The former PFL champion Harrison defeated Ketlen Vieira by unanimous decision, while Peña earned a narrowly-decided win over Raquel Pennington to reclaim the UFC women’s bantamweight title.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - October 7, 2024

Daniel Cormier believes Julianna Pena missed out on a big opportunity after striking gold a second time at UFC 307. Pena challenged Raquel Pennington for the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship over the weekend. She ended up becoming a two-time 135-pound titleholder via controversial split decision.