Julianna Peña looks to be the new ‘face’ of women’s MMA

By Will Hernandez

When Julianna Peña steps into the octagon tonight inside the Pepsi Center in mile-high Denver, Colorado, she will potentially be one step closer to the goal she’s been envisioning since she began training for mixed martial arts, a shot at the women’s bantamweight championship.

With Ronda Rousey, the longtime face of women’s MMA and former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women’s bantamweight champion, potentially heading towards retirement, the sport suddenly has a void to fill. Although Amanda Nunes is the current champion, she has indicated that she will retire after two or three more fights. The sport then has no clear cut superstar that can be the face of women’s MMA. That’s why Peña, the winner of “The Ultimate Fighter 18” thinks ‘this is my time.’

“This is the new era of female MMA. At one point Gina Carrano was the face of women’s MMA, and when she went out Ronda came in,” Peña, also known as the “Venezuelan Vixen,” said. “And now she is out. That face needs to be filled and I want to be that face of women’s MMA.”

But first, Peña (8-2 MMA, 4-0 UFC) must defeat a 17 time muay thai world champion and kickboxing specialist in Valentina “Bullet” Shevchenko (13-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC).

“She’s got 10 times more experience than I do, and she is a very strong fighter,” Peña said. “She is facing another strong fighter, she is facing a fighter she has never faced before, she’s facing a girl that’s going to be wearing her down like a wet towel and that can be very frustrating and nerve wrecking for a female fighter.”

Until Rousey announced that she was going to fight Nunes, Peña was not planning on fighting the top ranked Peruvian-Russian-Kyrgyzstani fighter, according reports. Nunes, reportedly had agreed on giving Pena a title shot via Twitter. However, the Venezuelan Vixen has said that she was holding out until it became clear that Rousey would fight Nunes in UFC 207.

“No other female fighter has had to fight more fights to get a title shot,” she said. “Some have come off losses and gotten title shots. I definitely think that arriving at a title shot would be a consequence of all the obstacles and hurdles I’ve had to overcome to get there.”

But in order to get that title shot, the Spokane, Washington native will need to focus on the task at hand: defeating the No.1 ranked women’s bantamweight fighter. A fight she insists she wanted all along.

“She is supposedly the best in the world, she’s in the no 1 spot, she’s ranked ahead of me and I’m in the No. 2 spot,” Peña said. “We’re going to see what she’s got, we’ll see what I got and may the best woman win. I’m thinking that’s going to be me.”

Nothing is more important to Peña than getting a shot at the women’s bantamweight championship and winning it.

Therefore, she arrived a couple weeks early to Denver, to train and help her body prepare for the high altitude and combat the side effects that can stem from it, such as loss of breath and respiration problems.

“It’s as much of a mental thing as it is a physical thing and it’s (also) a who wants it more thing,” Peña said. “I’m ready to go to war for five rounds. I’m ready to fight for 30 minutes. I’m ready to fight for an hour. I’m ready to fight no matter what.”

Once again, Peña will fight as the underdog, a role she has fought under since her time  in The Ultimate Fighter. After winning the competition in 2014, she became the first female to win the competition. Soon, she hopes to become the first full blood Venezuelan fighter to win the UFC women’s bantamweight championship.

“It’s another way to prove to myself that I am what I said I am ‘The best 135 pound woman that walks,” Pena said. “It will solidify in my head what I’ve been saying all along in my heart, that I’m the best in the world.”