Latest news with #JuliannaPeña
USA Today
18-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Julianna Peña fought Kayla Harrison at UFC 316 with 'pretty severe handicap'
Julianna Peña fought Kayla Harrison at UFC 316 with 'pretty severe handicap' According to Julianna Peña, she was compromised while fighting Kayla Harrison at UFC 316. Peña (13-6 MMA, 8-4 UFC) lost her bantamweight title to Harrison in the UFC 316 co-main event earlier this month after being taken down and submitted in the second round. In an emotional interview, Peña discussed her struggles in fight camp, which almost had her contemplating pulling out. "I was plagued with several injuries leading up to that fight," Peña said Tuesday on "The Ariel Helwani Show." "It was not a good camp for me in that sense because I knew that I was going into the fight with a pretty severe handicap. It crossed my mind (to pull out), but it was not bad enough to the point where I would have to not fight because I knew I was going to be able to push through. "But it's a funny thing that my coaches probably didn't explain the severity of the situation to me, otherwise I would have thought more heavily on not competing. No, I don't regret competing. I put in too much time. I've taken away too much time from other people, from my daughter, from my coaches, and from their families. So I don't regret competing. I just wish I could have competed under better circumstances." Peña opened up on the extent of her injuries. "About the second week of May, I broke my thumb on my training partner, and it was swollen," Peña said. "It looked like someone hit me in the hand with a hammer, and it was really difficult to grip. It still is right now very difficult to grip and to have grip strength. But then the 29th of May, I took a really bad fall in the octagon, and I tore my elbow and broke off a ton of bone chips so that I wasn't able to straighten my arm or bend my arm fully. I worked on that for a few days before I left to fight week, but everyday it was just worse and worse and worse. "It looked like someone whacked me in the back of the elbow with a baseball bat. It was just so swollen, and the MRI, the x-rays showed a tear and a lot of bone chips in the back of that. So going into a fight 10 days out after having a tear like that and all those bone chips, it's just excruciating, and it's very painful. It's hard to throw a punch, it's hard to extend, it's hard to grip, it's hard to bend. It's just all-around very painful. I'm having surgery for that in July, and I'm going to clean that up."
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Julianna Peña 'plagued' by injuries for Kayla Harrison fight, went in with a 'severe handicap'
Julianna Peña has fallen from the UFC women's bantamweight throne for a second time. UFC 316 was a rough night at the office for Peña, who suffered a second-round kimura loss to Kayla Harrison. The bout was Peña's second scheduled title defense of her UFC career, kicking off her second title reign after she previously held the belt from December 2021 to July 2022. Advertisement Speaking publicly for the first time since her loss, Peña revealed on Tuesday's edition of "The Ariel Helwani Show" that she was far from her best self heading into the highly anticipated clash. "I've been doing this since 2008. I think I have dislocated, broken and torn every ligament in my body," Peña said. "I was plagued with several injuries leading up to that fight, and it was not a good camp for me in that sense because I knew I was going into the fight with a pretty severe handicap. "It crossed my mind [not to fight] but it wasn't bad enough to the point where I would have to not fight because I knew I was going to be able to push through, but I think it's a funny thing that my coaches probably didn't explain the severity of the situation to me. Otherwise, I probably would have thought more heavily on not competing." According to Peña, her injuries occurred late in her fight camp, starting in the second week of May when she broke her thumb "on a training partner." The thumb was so swollen that it made gripping difficult, she said, which she is still struggling with after the fight. After that, Peña claimed that toward the end of the month, she took a hard fall in the cage that resulted in a tear in her elbow and broke off several bone chips. The injury prevented her from fully extending her arm, she said, but she did her best to work on the hindrances before she left for fight week. Advertisement Peña, 35, said she's undergoing surgery on her elbow in July, along with another surgery she didn't reveal. But regardless of all the damage sustained, there aren't any regrets in toughing it out to face Harrison. "I don't regret competing," Peña said. "I put in too much time. I've taken away too much time from other people. From my daughter, from my coaches, from their families. So I don't regret competing, no. I just wish that I could have competed under better circumstances. "It doesn't matter because you're going to get locked inside that Octagon anyway. Knowing that I was going into the fight with that big of a handicap definitely sucked, but then lo and behold, that's actually the same arm that she isolated and was able to kimura, so I had no strength to be able to fight that — then hot-dog it, [the fight-ending submission happened] with five seconds left in the round. It's humiliating, it's embarrassing and it sucks. Oh well. Live to fight another day." Advertisement With the injuries piling up and the accomplishments already attached to her name, it begs the question of how much longer Peña wants to fight. After the loss, she indicated she hopes to jump immediately back into a title fight and challenge the winner of an expected Harrison vs. Amanda Nunes superfight. Peña expects her recovery timetable from the upcoming surgeries to be relatively short — around six months. After that, she'll see where she's at mentally. "I don't want to do anything else," Pena said. "Fighting has been so much a part of my life that it's been a week and a half and I'm sitting here like, 'What am I supposed to do now with the rest of my time?' Obviously I'm going to Disney World, I'm going on a vacation. So that's definitely one thing, but after that, I have a lot of things to consider, and they will all come after my surgery and my healing stage. Advertisement "I've proven that you can tear four out of five ligaments in your knee and still win and compete at the highest level. I've proven that I can tear my other knee and still come back and compete at the highest level. I've proven that I can dislocate my elbows and still come back at the highest level. So I've broken it all, I've torn it all. There's really not anything I think I couldn't come back from. This is just a part of the game. This is from years of wear and tear on my body, and I'll be able to come back and feel better — which is an exciting thing, because if I'm fighting with two arms, you girls better watch out." As soon as Peña vs. Harrison concluded, the table was set for Nunes' return. If Peña does get her wish once the dust is settled again at 135 pounds, she'd ideally prefer a trilogy fight against Nunes. Regarding who she thinks wins the matchup, she thinks her former rival still has enough in the tank to get it done. "Amanda and I were 1-1, and I still feel like there's some unfinished business there," Peña said. "Kayla, I would love to compete against [her] again with a camp where I'm not going in there like a bag of bones, trying to put them together with duct tape. So that would be best-case scenario, but I'll definitely be there cageside, watching them do their thing when they get ready to go, for sure. I'm curious. "I think that [Nunes] probably more than likely will [win], but I really don't care. I'm just there to eat my popcorn and watch the show."
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Julianna Peña, Rose Namajunas, Andrei Arlovski, Phil Rowe, JunYong Park and more
Julianna Peña returns for her first interview since UFC 316. Ariel Helwani and the Boys In The Back go live on Uncrowned and YouTube at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT/6 p.m. UK time for Tuesday's edition of "The Ariel Helwani Show." The full rundown for Tuesday's show is below. 1 p.m. ET: Phil Rowe joins following his UFC Atlanta knockout of Ange Loosa. Advertisement 1:30 p.m. ET: "The Iron Turtle" JunYong Park previews his UFC Baku fight against Ismail Naurdiev. 2 p.m. ET: UFC legend Andrei Arlovski stops by the show. 2:30 p.m. ET: Julianna Peña returns following her UFC 316 title showdown with Kayla Harrison. 3 p.m. ET: Rose Namajunas looks back at her big UFC Atlanta win over Miranda Maverick. Catch all new episodes of "The Ariel Helwani Show" live every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET on Uncrowned and The Ariel Helwani Show's YouTube page. To listen to every episode, subscribe on Spotify or iTunes.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
UFC 316 medical suspensions: Julianna Peña out indefinitely thanks to Kayla Harrison's torque
UFC 316 is in the past, but numerous fighters remain on suspension until their bumps and bruises heal. The event took place Saturday at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. and featured 13 fights including two title fights. On Tuesday, the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board (NJSACB) released a full list of fighters' injuries and their coinciding suspension. Fighters can return prior to the conclusion of their suspension if they are cleared by a medical professional. The most prominent suspension is former UFC women's bantamweight champion Julianna Peña who is out indefinitely until her left elbow and shoulder is cleared. The potential injuries were likely sustained during Kayla Harrison's kimura that won the title. Main event combatants Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O'Malley were not handed medical suspensions. Overall, 12 fighters were suspended, including five indefinitely. Check out a full list of UFC 316 medical suspensions below. Merab Dvalishvili: No suspension. Sean O'Malley: No suspension. Kayla Harrison: No suspension. Julianna Peña: Suspended indefinitely until left elbow and left shoulder cleared by orthopedist. Joe Pyfer: No suspension. Kelvin Gastelum: Suspended indefinitely until loose right maxillary incisor cleared by dentist; also suspended 30 days no contact. Mario Bautista: Suspended 30 days no contact for facial lacerations. Patchy Mix: No suspension. Kevin Holland: No suspension. Vicente Luque: Suspended 45 days for scalp hematoma with 30 days no contact. Joshua Van: No suspension. Bruno Silva: Suspended 30 days no contact for TKO. Azamat Murzakanov: No suspension. Brendson Ribeiro: Suspended 30 days no contact for TKO. Waldo Cortes-Acosta: No suspension. Serghei Spivac: Suspended indefinitely until right foot X-rays cleared by orthopedist; also suspended 30 days no contact. Andreas Gustafsson: No suspension. Khaos Williams: Suspended 45 days for left forehead laceration with 30 days no contact. Cong Wang: No suspension. Ariane da Silva: Suspended indefinitely until left leg X-rays cleared by doctor; also suspended 30 days no contact for left leg trauma. Joo Sang Yoo: No suspension. Jeka Saragih: Suspended 60 days for knockout with 45 days no contact. Quillan Salkilld: Suspended indefinitely until right foot X-rays cleared by doctor; also suspended 30 days for head contact with 21 days no contact. Yanal Ashmouz: No suspension. Marquel Mederos: No suspension. Mark Choinski: Suspended 21 days no contact for left calf. This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC 316 medical suspensions: Julianna Peña out indefinitely thanks to Kayla Harrison's torque
USA Today
10-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
UFC 316 medical suspensions: Julianna Peña out indefinitely thanks to Kayla Harrison's torque
UFC 316 medical suspensions: Julianna Peña out indefinitely thanks to Kayla Harrison's torque UFC 316 is in the past, but numerous fighters remain on suspension until their bumps and bruises heal. The event took place Saturday at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. and featured 13 fights including two title fights. On Tuesday, the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board (NJSACB) released a full list of fighters' injuries and their coinciding suspension. Fighters can return prior to the conclusion of their suspension if they are cleared by a medical professional. The most prominent suspension is former UFC women's bantamweight champion Julianna Peña who is out indefinitely until her left elbow and shoulder is cleared. The potential injuries were likely sustained during Kayla Harrison's kimura that won the title. Main event combatants Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O'Malley were not handed medical suspensions. Overall, 12 fighters were suspended, including five indefinitely. Check out a full list of UFC 316 medical suspensions below. Full UFC 316 medical suspensions include:
