UFC strawweight Michelle Waterson has been in the headlines recently for lobbying for a world title shot so that she could be the first ever mother UFC champion. Waterson did not get her title shot, but she did receive what appears to be a title eliminator fight in October when she takes on Joanna Jedrzejczyk. And now another UFC mother has been in the headlines recently with Julianna Pena making her triumphant return by defeating former flyweight champion Nicco Montano in the UFC Sacramento prelims. And while Pena did not mention motherhood as part of her argument, the proud new mother certainly raised the topic of a title shot:
“I don’t know what’s up for me. All I know is that the division has kind of been stagnant,” Pena’s pitch began in an ESPN interview. “And (Amanda Nunes) has gone through a lot of girls, and she has beat other girls. You know, Germaine fought that night, too, and she won impressively with that knockout, but she’s already fought the champ, and champ hasn’t fought me.”
One common opponent shared between Pena and Nunes is Cat Zingano. Champion Amanda Nunes has a loss to Zingano while Pena holds a unanimous decision victory over her. There is something to be learned from this fact, Pena believes:
“If you look at the loss that Amanda has, it’s to Cat Zingano, who was able to wrestle her down, and to get her tired, and to beat her up,” Pena said. So I think that’s the matchup stylistically that makes sense to beat Amanda. You gotta make it ugly. You gotta take her down. And you gotta make it a dog fight. And no one has been able to do that, and I feel like I’m the fighter that, with a full camp, will be able to do that. “
Julianna Pena closed her argumentation by reminding the world that she was next in line to receive a world title shot at Amanda Nunes in the past until a certain somebody had to come crash her party:
“(Nunes) already agreed to fight me when she won against Miesha, and then she opted out and took the money fight against Ronda (Rousey), which I don’t blame her,” Pena said. “But, yeah, she’s fought everyone else. She hasn’t fought me. And so I would like to fight her.”
Whom would you like to see Julianna Pena fight next? Amanda Nunes or someone else?
