Julianna Pena wants to deliver justice to Raquel Pennington for being a bad roommate.
Pena challenges Pennington for the women’s bantamweight throne in the co-main event at UFC 307 on Saturday at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. While this is the first time they will square off in the Octagon, Pena and Tate previously spent a lot of time together representing Team Miesha Tate against Team Ronda Rousey on “The Ultimate Fighter 18” in 2013.
It became evident during the course of the season that Pena and Pennington weren’t the best of buddies. Although they were seemingly always on a collision course, the matchup never materialized until now. Along with the lure of winning a title for the second time, Pena also has the chance to avenge alleged transgressions by “Rocky” during their time at the “TUF 18” house.
UFC 307: Pereira vs. Rountree Jr. Saturday at 10 ET on ESPN+. Order Now!
“Raquel and I have had our history of little spats,” Pena recently told CBS Sports. “If you watch ‘The Ultimate Fighter,’ she was doing things and saying things that I didn’t agree with. And it gets to be one of those—I don’t know if you saw that Netflix series ‘Worst Roommate Ever’—where they just have these like terrible roommates. And I’m like, ‘I’m doing all of your dishes, I’m giving you makeovers, I’m teaching you how to walk like a runway model. Why are you so horrible to me? Why are you making my life a living hell?’ For me, it’s just like what do you do when you’re doing everybody’s dishes and living with the worst roommate ever. You just want to slap them. So for me, it’s one of those things where I would just much rather get it over with. This has been 13 years in the making, and it’s time for the worst roommate ever to get their due justice.”
Pena won the bantamweight title against Amanda Nunes at UFC 269 in 2021, marking one of the greatest upsets of all time. She would lose the belt in a rematch at UFC 277 the next year via a lopsided unanimous decision. While a trilogy was scheduled for UFC 289 in 2023, Pena was forced out due to a rib injury. Pena was replaced by Irene Aldana, whom Nunes defeated via unanimous decision before hanging up her gloves. Pennington won the vacant title with a unanimous decision win over Mayra Bueno Silva at UFC 297 this past January, extending her winning streak to six.
