Julianna Peña is already sorting out opponents for her championship reign.
It has been just one month since Julianna Peña became UFC bantamweight champion, but she is already making a list of possible opponents. The top name on her dream list is a well-known name, but no longer in the UFC. Peña has a desire to lure Ronda Rousey back from retirement to settle an old score between them.
Peña got her start in the UFC as a member of The Ultimate Fighter Season 18. That season was coached by Rousey and Miesha Tate. Peña was a member of Tate’s team and also a friend of hers. Throughout the season, there was a lot of hatred between the coaches and Peña. Being friendly with Tate, Peña took some of that hate from Rousey as well.
“She really had a tough time getting along with me on The Ultimate Fighter,” Peña told The NY Post. “She didn’t like me at all because I was friends with Miesha Tate. She wasn’t the nicest.”
Rousey has a very successful run as the champion of the bantamweight division but hung up her gloves back in 2016. After a short time with the WWE, Rousey is now out of combat sports and raising a family. That doesn’t stop Peña from calling her out though. She would welcome a shot at that former champ if she ever got the itch to return.
“It would be amazing to pull Ronda Rousey back out of retirement,” She said. “It would be great to have her come back to UFC and fight again.”
Peña is just beginning her run as the 135-pound champion and has already done something Rousey could not, beat Amanda Nunes. Peña is not holding out for Rousey at this time but she is still holding a grudge.
“I don’t know that she’ll recall this because she ended up getting taken out by her entire team,” Peña said. “But when we won ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ and got out of the house, she told me that, ‘You’re gonna give me a tougher fight than Miesha Tate, but when that day comes I’m still gonna kick your ass….’ I kind of said to her, ‘We’ll see.”
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