Julianna Peña Targets UFC International Fight Week 2025 For First Title Defense
By Harvey Leonard,
1 days ago
UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Julianna Peña is expecting a break from competition spanning eight to nine months before putting her newly won gold on the line.
The pair went the full five rounds in the card’s co-headliner, with “The Venezuelan Vixen” controversially getting the nod on two of the three scorecards to be crowned queen.
But it would appear fans could be waiting some time before seeing that matchup play out inside the Octagon…
Peña Has ‘Things To Do’ Before UFC Return, Targets Mid-2025
During an appearance on the debut episode of The Ariel Helwani Show on Uncrowned , Peña reflected on her title-winning performance in the “Beehive State” and looked ahead to what could await her next.
After insisting that she’s willing to face Harrison should Nunes stay on the sidelines to potentially fight the winner, the champ pointed to next summer’s International Fight Week in Las Vegas as a potential date for her return.
“I’m not sure (when I will return). That’s something that the machine and my dogs, my agents and everything like that, we’re going to have to be going back and forth for a while and make sure this is going to be the best-case scenario for me,” Peña said. “That is a bridge that we can’t cross yet.
“Whenever I text Hunter (Campbell), they’re like, ‘Chill, just enjoy the win, relax.’ That’s kind of what I’m getting right now,” Peña said, before outlining her desired return date. “I don’t know, I think maybe International Fight Week would be a good time. We’ll see. There are some things I need to do on my end.”
For the time being, “The Venezuelan Vixen” will be enjoying the start of her second stint as bantamweight queen before looking ahead to her sophomore attempt at adding a successful defense to her résumé.
Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency:
Our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. As a platform hosting over 100,000 pieces of content published daily, we cannot pre-vet content, but we strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation.
Comments / 0