When Raquel Pennington and Julianna Pena were part of the cast of The Ultimate Fighter 18 in 2013, it seemed like they were destined to meet on the show or soon after.
However, the two bantamweights never crossed paths on the show, and it took more than a decade before they were finally booked to fight within the Las Vegas-based promotion. On Saturday, Pennington will defend his 135-pound belt against Pena in the co-main event of UFC 307 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. In a recent interview with MMAjunkie.com, Pennington reflected on his interaction with Pena at TUF 18, where he quickly realized their personalities weren’t a good fit.
“I’m not going to sit here and say I hate Juliana. I don’t hate anyone. I don’t have that bad feeling towards her,” Pennington said. “Did she find out about me on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’? Absolutely. On top of being taken out of your comfort zone, you live with someone and we were very, very , have very different personality types, which none of us knew when we first entered “The Ultimate Fighter.” I remember Juliana. They were bullying her and felt sorry for her. We ended up on the same team, we became roommates, and we were like, “Okay, cool.” I’m going to be friends with you. We immediately understood the differences in our personalities and were like, “Oh, yeah.” ”
Pena would go on to win TUF 18, but Pennington suffered an injury. “Rocky” has admitted in the past that he was asked to fight Pena, but that never materialized until now.
UFC 307: Pereira vs. Rountree Jr. Saturday at 10 a.m. ET on ESPN+. Order now!
“That’s one of the things that made me feel like Darna on The Ultimate Fighter.” [White] I thought we would face each other in the finals, but she ended up winning the season. [I got injured]. …It didn’t work out that way. I don’t know why we haven’t lined up for the last 11 years,” Pennington said. “This is the fight I wanted.”
UFC 307 will be Pena’s first appearance in the Octagon since July 2022. The injury forced her to miss her trilogy bout against Amanda Nunes at UFC 289 in June 2023, and the “Venezuela beauty” has been away from competition ever since. As a result, Pennington admitted that he spent time preparing Kayla Harrison in case Pena was forced to cancel the reservation. Harrison is scheduled to face Ketlen Vieira on the main card of UFC 307.
“Honestly, I prepared for this as both Julianna and Kayla. Julianna has a history of injuries,” Pennington said. “I know Kayla made a comment about wanting to be a backup. This wasn’t just a combat camp where you were like, ‘Okay, here’s one guy we’re looking at.’ I analyzed two athletes and prepared them in two different directions. ”
