Back on Dec. 20, 2015, top Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women’s bantamweight contender, Julianna Pena, was arrested for her alleged role in a bar fight in Spokane, Washington.
More on that here, here, and here.
“The Venezuelan Vixen” stopped by The MMA Hour to talk about her current legal issues, as well as to shed some light on when fight fans can expect to see her back inside the Octagon.
“I am still in a pending criminal case, so I cannot talk about it. But, what I will say, is that when it all comes to a head, I am confident that the matter will be resolved fairly easily. In the meantime, I’m just trying to focus on my fighting career and getting to my next fight. That has been my focus ever since. You live and you learn and people sometimes have to make some choices in life and you have to deal with it. I am dealing with it. When I can talk about it, I’ll be excited to do so, that way I can get everybody to see my points of view on the whole situation. But I cannot go into too much detail, I’m sorry. It has been hard to keep it in because I wear my heart on my sleeve and I am an open book that doesn’t have anything to hide. I just want to shout from the rooftop. But, I have been advised to lay low and let this thing blow over and let my lawyers handle it. It has been difficult but I’m trying to remain living a normal life in the meantime. People will come up to me and hide their balls and stuff, but, that is not what happened! It’s been a ongoing joke for the last couple of months that’s kind of funny, but actually not funny at all.”
Pena revealed her ongoing legal situation is the reason behind her UFC hiatus, but hopes she will be able to make a fight announcement just as soon as all the wrinkles get ironed out.
Unfortunately for The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 18 champ, her court date keeps getting pushed back and she likely won’t see a judge until May or June.
Pena — who missed all of 2014 with a knee injury — made a successful return to action by taking a unanimous decision win over Jessica Eye at the UFC 192 pay-per-view (PPV) event in Houston, Texas.