UFC women’s bantamweight champion Julianna Pena is tuning out the critics as she prepares for her showdown with Kayla Harrison.
Pena has been out of the cage since regaining her title from Raquel Pennington in October, but she plans to make her return against her long-time rival, Kayla Harrison. While the bout has not been officially confirmed, rumours suggest that Pena is set to face PFL star Kayla Harrison at UFC 316. The two fighters have been in talks about a potential fight and were originally scheduled to face off at UFC 307, but the matchup never materialized.
In previous interviews, Julianna Pena has expressed interest in facing former champion Amanda Nunes, hoping she would come out of retirement for a rematch. However, for now, Pena is focused on facing the top contenders in her division. During a recent sit-down with *OverDogs Podcast*, Pena shutdown naysayers and discussed the odds that have placed her as a massive +700 underdog for her upcoming fight.
“I think that one of the reasons why I’m a 7-to-1 underdog, or why I always get overlooked, is maybe because I’m not the most technically sound,” Peña said. “Maybe I don’t always make everything perfect or appear as technically flawless. But I’ve always had one thing that sets me apart from everyone else, and that is my mindset. I’ve never put a ceiling on myself in terms of what I’m capable of. I’ve always believed that I can.”
She continued, “When you have that mental toughness, where you think, ‘I don’t care what you do, I’m still going to get up and keep coming at you a million miles an hour,’ you’re going to have to literally cut my head off to stop me, because I’m not going to stop.”
Meanwhile, Harrison is riding a three-fight winning streak, with her most recent victory being a unanimous decision over Ketlen Vieira last fall.
