Julianna Pena: ‘If I got to poke her eyeballs out,’ I will beat Raquel Pennington at UFC 307

Julianna Peña says she will do whatever is necessary to beat Raquel Pennington to regain the UFC women’s bantamweight title this Saturday at UFC 307.

“If I got to poke her eyeballs out, if I got a bite her on the freaking finger, I’m going to literally do whatever I can to get my hand raised,” Peña told MMA Fighting. “I don’t care, come hell or high water, I guarantee you I am willing to die in there, as you guys have seen. ’m not going to stop until I get the victory.

“So I don’t care if I knock her out with a pinky finger, I don’t care if I submit her with one arm, I am going to do everything that I can, and I will do everything that I can to get my hand raised. I don’t know how it’s going to come. I can’t predict when, I’m not Nostradamus, I don’t have a crystal ball. I just have confidence in myself and my game.”

The matchup between The Ultimate Fighter season 18 cast members serves as the co-main event for the first of the UFC’s two October pay-per-view events.

Peña first captured the title with a stunning stoppage victory over Amanda Nunes at UFC 269 in December 2021. “The Venezuelan Vixen” had her reign thwarted by Nunes in the rematch at UFC 277 eight-months later, dropping a lopsided unanimous decision.

While nothing will top the moment of Peña pulling off one of the biggest upsets in UFC history over the seemingly unbeatable Nunes, Peña says stopping the impressive six-fight win streak of Pennington, and becoming a two-time champion in the process will be a close second.

“It will mean the world, it means that I clawed and scratched my way back up to the top of the mountain and I got it done again,” Peña said. “‘Peña Two-Time.,’ that sounds good to me. I, obviously, am in this sport for that reason. I want to go down in history as one of the best. I want to go down, and in the Hall of Fame is one of the best and I’m not going to stop until I get there.

“It would be hard to top that moment [of beating Nunes]. I blew the roof off of the place when I beat Amanda the first time, but I’m looking forward to getting another opportunity, another crack at gold. Just looking forward to getting my hand raised.”