Julianna Peña was determined to breathe life into her “Ghost Town” division at UFC 307

If you've been paying attention to anything UFC-related from December 2021 to July 2022, you've probably seen Julianna Peña sitting cageside, sumptuously accessorized and always at home in her role as women's bantamweight champion. After upsetting Amanda Nunes at UFC 269, Peña's victory lap took her all over God's green earth, from “Good Morning America” ​​to Mike Tyson's podcast to Joe Rogan's bunker to spots next to Tom Brady, Justin Timberlake and Shaquille O'Neal at live events. It was a traveling solo exhibition, dutifully displayed so that everyone could get a good look at it.

She even took a photo with President Donald Trump, whom she called the “greatest president since George Washington.” Washington had been out of office since March 1797.

The thing is, Peña loved To be the champion the way Dana White loves his ice jumps. If she had her way, it would have taken forever. So you can understand that life seemed to lose a little of its luster for Peña when the music came to a standstill in Dallas at UFC 277, where she lost her rematch with Nunes and therefore spit out her favorite accessory.

Now here we are, 25 long Months later, she'll finally get the chance to return to all those high-profile appearances when she fights for the 135-pound title at UFC 307 on Saturday, this time against Raquel Pennington. Peña sees himself as the adrenaline rush the weight class needs to be viable again.

“I feel like the bantamweight division is kind of a ghost town right now and there’s no one to properly represent it,” Peña said. “I want to breathe life into it. I want to convey a feeling of aliveness – a feeling of reinvigorated energy and good vibes – and be that face. It's nice to know that [UFC] has always had my back and they send me to these events and use me as their warrior to further their business.”

While the seven and a half months she held the title flew by, the last two years and changes have passed with frustrating slowness. Peña was scheduled to have the trilogy fight against Nunes at UFC 289 in mid-2023, but was forced to withdraw due to a rib injury. This cleared the way for Irene Aldana to intervene and was promptly trampled by Nunes, who herself then abruptly “withdrew” immediately after the fight.

Peña, sitting helpless at the cage that night in Vancouver, not only missed her chance to regain the belt, but she also appeared to watch as the consensus GOAT of women's MMA walked away from her rubber bout. It was the old one-two punch.

And if it wasn't enough, when UFC announced a fight for the vacant title earlier this year, Peña wasn't ready to take part, so they decided to fill in for Pennington against Mayra Bueno Silva. Pennington scored a somewhat sleepy unanimous decision over Silva to win the belt, and from there the division continued quietly without the “Venezuelan Vixen.”

Until now.

Peña's title shot comes at a very strange time in the women's bantamweight division, as the champion feels like nothing more than a woman Amuse bouche for the group of serious competitors. There's the 35-year-old Peña, who makes his first attempt to win Pennington's title on Saturday in Salt Lake City. There's Kayla Harrison, the Olympic judoka and PFL champion, fighting Ketlen Vieira in a likely title fight that same evening. And then there's Nunes, who will almost certainly come out of retirement now that there's so much going on.

What is noticeable is that everyone looks at each other. Peña watches the trilogy fight with Nunes, Nunes is tempted by a fight with her former gym partner Harrison, and Harrison sees her the way a lion sees a piece of raw steak. Who gets who first and who gets who next? And can Pennington ruin all tomorrow's parties?

These are the subplots of UFC 307.

“When you think of the greatest of all time in women's mixed martial arts, everyone always says Amanda Nunes,” says Peña, just thinking about getting into the biggest fights possible. “Or when they think about who put the division on the map, they think about Ronda Rousey. I want those [types of big] Fights. I want the fights that generate the most. I'm a business-oriented guy. I want the best for myself, for them, for the company, for everyone. I want to continue to develop mixed martial arts for women so that more women are included.”

You could say that Pennington's rise to the top of the division is a shining example of perseverance, considering she debuted in the UFC in 2013 as an unimpressive .500 fighter (3-3) and then suffered five more losses in her UFC career had to travel before she went on an improbable six-fight winning streak en route to her title.

Peña says that's a nice quality for “Rocky” as a person, but that's not the true story of this fight.

“Raquel earned the spot as bantamweight champion and I respect that – I think it’s great that she persevered,” she says. “But if anyone is going to be the face of persistence, it has to be me.”

It's hard to argue with that. Peña's UFC career is not easy to describe. She wasn't what you would call a prolific fighter. In fact, since winning The Ultimate Fighter 18 In 2013, Christmas featured more often than Peña, who only competed 10 times in 11 years. She has suffered numerous injuries, the most serious of which was a torn knee in 2014 that sidelined her for a year. She gave birth to her daughter Issa and suffered some highly visible defeats against Valentina Shevchenko and Germaine de Randamie.

Yet she also shocked the world as a 7-to-1 underdog in her first fight with Nunes. And it wasn't just that she defeated the most dominant champion in women's MMA history – she had also fearlessly called for a fight when it seemed like there were no viable competitors to test Nunes. There was something about the way her boldness expressed her own confidence that made her 2021's Fighter of the Year. Even though she had been on the scene for years, no one really gave her a chance.

The image of her taking on Nunes that night in Las Vegas at UFC 269 will forever remain in the fight world's memory. You treat the GOAT of women like a turnstile and can appear on as many Jumbotrons as you want. And the only way for Peña to win the trilogy fight with Nunes is to get through “Rocky” on the edge of the western Rockies.

Peña isn't shy about imagining the first act in her next victory lap should she capture the bantamweight title for the second time in Salt Lake.

“If I have to call Amanda Nunes out after Saturday night for this trilogy fight, which would be the biggest fight in the history of women's mixed martial arts, I will do that,” she says. “Because I think in the mindset of a businesswoman about what are the biggest struggles that could happen. For me, these are the fights I want. These are the fights that I think will cause tension. Those are the fights that I think will sell pay-per-views.”

These are the fights that get the music going again for the next world tour.