Julianna Pena wants justice for her bad roommate, Raquel Pennington.
Pena will challenge Pennington for the women’s bantamweight title in the co-main event of UFC 307 on Saturday at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. Although this will be their first time competing in the Octagon, Pena and Tate spent a lot of time together in 2013, when they represented Team Miesha Tate against Team Ronda Rousey at The Ultimate Fighter 18. .
Midway through the season, it became clear that Pena and Pennington were not the best of buddies. Although the two always seemed to be on a collision course, a matchup never materialized until now. In addition to the lure of winning a second title, Pena also has the chance to atone for the sins committed by Rocky during his time in the TUF 18 house.
UFC 307: Pereira vs. Rountree Jr. Saturday at 10 a.m. ET on ESPN+. Order now!
“Raquel and I have a bit of a history of arguments,” Pena recently told CBS Sports. “If you watch ‘The Ultimate Fighter,’ she’s doing things and saying things that I don’t agree with. And it’s like, I don’t know if you’ve seen the Netflix series ‘The Worst Roommate Ever,’ , would be like a terrible roommate. And I said, “I cook all your meals, do your makeup, and teach you how to walk like a runway model.” Why are you so awful to me? Why are you making my life a living hell? To me, that’s what you do when you’re cooking for everyone and living with the worst roommate ever. You just want to bash them. So, for me, it’s one of those things I’d rather end. It’s been 13 years in the making, and it’s time for the worst roommate ever to get justice. ”
Pena won the bantamweight title against Amanda Nunes at UFC 269 in 2021 in one of the biggest upsets of all time. She would lose the belt in a rematch at UFC 277 the following year by a lopsided unanimous decision. A trilogy was scheduled for UFC 289 in 2023, but Peña was forced to withdraw due to a rib injury. Pena was replaced by Irene Aldana, but Nunes defeated her by unanimous decision and hung up her gloves. Pennington captured the vacant title with a unanimous decision win over Mayra Bueno Silva at UFC 297 in January, extending his winning streak to six.
