Bantamweight contender Julianna Pena has spoken out for the first time since suffering a technical submission loss to revered striker Germain de Randamie at UFC Fight Island 4 last night.
Pena was looking to make it two in a row after beating former flyweight champion Nicco Montano at UFC Sacramento in July 2019. ‘The Venezuelan Vixen’ struggled early but managed to dominate round two against de Randamie meaning it was all to play for in the third and final round.
The TUF 18 winner came charging forward at the start of round three, landing some nice strikes before dipping down for the takedown. De Randamie manged to lock up the neck though and choked BJJ black belt Pena unconscious for the first submission win of her MMA career.
Pena took to Instagram earlier today to address her loss, thank the UFC and vow to learn from the defeat, she wrote.
“You win some, you learn some. Wasn’t my night! Massive Congratulations to @ironladymma it was an honor to compete against you and thank you for your service of upholding the #thinblueline 
Thank you @danawhite and @ufc for the experience #inabudhabi
“I can’t wait to get back to this little love of mine!! I’ve missed her so much! Your kids don’t always follow your advice, a lot of times they follow your example. I’m uninjured and Dont want to take too much time off. I want to show my daughter that just because things didn’t go my way, doesn’t mean I quit or give up on my goals! This is a game of inches and I will hold my head up high and move on to my next challenge! Thank you to everyone who has supported me in my fight journey and sorry I didn’t walk away with the Win. And to those of you just tuning in, get your popcorn ready because I’ll be back soon!”
Who do you think Julianna Pena should fight next?