UFC 307 Preview: Does Julianna Pena Deserve Bantamweight Title Fight?

Former UFC women's bantamweight champion after 26 months Julianna Pena returns to action this weekend (Sat. October 5, 2024) to take on his long-time opponent and current champion Raquel Pennington in the co-main event of UFC 307 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

There was a lot of criticism about Pena's immediate title chance. So the question is, does she actually deserve one? The answer is…hell no.

Let me explain.

Firstly, she was completely obliterated by the former double champion in her last fight Amanda Nunes in a non-competitive fight. Their rematch was a direct follow-up to their first fight, in which Pena upset an exhausted Nunes for the title.

Yes, there have been several examples of fighters receiving title opportunities due to defeats; For example, Israel Adesanyaagainst whom a middleweight title fight last took place Dricus Du Plessis after being dominated Sean Strickland. The difference between Adesanya and Pena is that “Stylebender” is a two-time titleholder with multiple title defenses and is one of the biggest stars in the company.

Second, Pena currently does not have a win against anyone on the UFC roster. Not one. Aside from Nunes, their most recent victory was defeating the Shopworn Sara McMann and before that, she was put to sleep against the kickboxing champion and former UFC titleholder Germaine de Randamie (Watch highlights).

Finally, there was a pretty clear option to fight for the women's bantamweight title: Kayla Harrison. The judoka defeated the former champion 17:1 Holly Holm in her Octagon debut and is a former two-time Professional Fighters League (PFL) champion and Olympic gold medalist. Perhaps the promotion wanted to see if Harrison could easily make the bantamweight limit (again), but there is no compelling reason why Pena was chosen over Harrison.

I really don't see any reason why Pena deserves this title other than she talks a lot of nonsense, which ends up being… well, very pathetic. There's a somewhat interesting history between her and Pennington (they were on The Ultimate Fighter 18 together) and they've hated each other ever since.

Nonetheless, UFC will be UFC, and we have a stupid bantamweight title fight this weekend that no one cares about because of the undeserving challenger.

MMAmania.com will provide LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 307 fight card RIGHT HEREstarting with the early one ESPN+ “Prelims” games at 6:00 p.m. ET, followed by remaining undercard balance on ESPNN/ESPN+ at 8:00 p.m. ET, ahead of the PPV main card start time at 10:00 p.m. ET ESPN+ PPV.

Check out the latest and greatest UFC 307: “Pereira vs. Rountree Jr.” Find news and notes in our comprehensive event archive here. For the updated and finalized UFC 307 fight card and ESPN+ lineup, click here.