Raquel Pennington vs. Julianna Pena: Preview, Where to Watch and Betting Odds

Newly crowned UFC women’s bantamweight queen, Raquel Pennington of the USA makes her first title defense against the former bantamweight champion Julianna Pena in the co-main event of UFC 307. While Pena’s last fight was two years ago when she lost the 135-pound title to Amanda Nunes, Pennington has been more active and claimed the title with a unanimous decision over Mayra Bueno Silva when the two fought for the vacated title last January. Raquel Pennington and Julianna Pena have a frosty relationship from their time as roommates in 2013 at TUF18. Pena is the bookies favorite to win the grudge match.

MMA: UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship

Where to Watch: PPV (ESPN)

Venue: Delta Center, Salt Lake City, Utah

Date: 06.10.2024 06:00

After weathering the early aggression of Mayra Bueno Silva in their championship fight early this year, Raquel Pennington cruised to a unanimous decision to become UFC women’s bantamweight champion. The 36-year-old had contested for the title earlier in her career losing by TKO to Amanda Nunes in 2018. Pennington and Rena were teammates in Meisha Tate’s team in 2013 on The Ultimate Fighter 18. They shared living quarters during the competition and came out with a dislike for each other. Time has not healed the spat with both fighters now having to face each other for the bantamweight gold. Raquel Pennington is on a six-fight winning streak dating back to 2020.

• Age: 36
• Height: 5’7”
• Reach: 67.5”
• Weight: 135lbs (61kg)
• Record: 16-8

Raquel and I have had our history of little spats. If you watch ‘The Ultimate Fighter,’ she was doing things and saying things that I didn’t agree with. It’s one of those things where I would just much rather get it over with. This has been 13 [11] years in the making, and it’s time for the worst roommate ever to get their due justice.

Raquel Pennington

“The Venezuelan Vixen” has been dogged with injuries in the last couple of years. The former champ submitted Amanda Nunes to claim the bantamweight title in December 2021. Seven months later, she lost the title to Nunes in the rematch but was unable to complete the trilogy due to injury. Julianna Pena was also unavailable last January when Nunes vacated. Now the former The Ultimate Fighter champ is back against her former teammate bidding to reclaim her title. Pena is the number one ranked UFC women’s bantamweight and number five in the UFC women’s pound-for-pound.

She has a master’s degree in yap-ology. Like, she talks, and she keeps herself relevant, but I don’t understand how this girl can stay injured and then she comes back and all of a sudden, she’s getting a big fight.

Julianna Pena

• Age: 35
• Height: 5’7’’
• Reach: 69”
• Weight: 135lbs (61kg)
• Record: 11-5

Raquel Pennington is a 1.62 favorite on Betway which lists Julianna Pena as a 2.30 underdog. A decision for the defending champion is available at 2.10 odds on Bet365 which prices a decision for the challenger at 4.00. 1XBET lists under 3.5 at 3.5 odds with the under 4.5 available at 2.8. Read more here.