Julianna Pena has gold around her waist once again.
In the UFC 307 co-main event Saturday at Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Peña (13-5 MMA, 8-3 UFC) defeated Raquel Pennington (16-10 MMA, 13-6 UFC) by split decision (48-47, 47-48, 48-47) to win the promotion’s women’s bantamweight title.
The first round was closely contest with both women standing at distance, testing out their technical striking. The next three rounds were a bit more clear-cut. In Round 2, Peña took Pennington down and controlled her for much of the round in side control.
In Round 3, Peña dragged the fight to the canvas again. This time, she worked from the back with a body lock. She tried to lock in a rear-naked choke and face crank, but Pennington fended her off until the horn.
Peña found success on the feet in Round 4, as she outpointed Pennington. That is, until Pennington landed the first knockdown of her 19-fight UFC career. It was a massive right hand that floored Peña. Rather than pounce with strikes, Pennington sought a guillotine choke. Peña grabbed hold of Pennington and got back to the feet.
In Round 5, both fighters were visibly tired. Pennington seemed a bit sharper and fresher and landed hard shots on Peña, who wobbled at one point due to a big punch. Peña was much more defensive-minded in the round as Pennington pushed the action.
In the end, it was Peña who was awarded the title by split decision.
The decision was highly controversial with 25 media members scoring the bout for Pennington, one scoring it a draw, and none scoring it for Peña, according to MMADecisions.com. At the time of publication, over 85 percent of fan voters also scored the fight for Pennington.
After the fight, Peña was asked about fighting Kayla Harrison next. Harrison (18-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) defeated Ketlen Vieira by unanimous decision earlier in the night. Peña elected to call for a trilogy vs. Amanda Nunes instead. The answer visually amused Harrison, who signaled that Peña was running.
Peña first claimed gold in December 2021 when she defeated Nunes by submission in one of the biggest upsets in UFC history. She then lost the title to Nunes by unanimous in July 2022. Saturday’s fight was her first since that bout.
Pennington has a six-fight winning streak snapped by coming up short in her first title defense attempt. She won the title that was vacated by Nunes when she defeated Mayra Bueno Silva by unanimous decision in January.
Up-to-the-minute UFC 307 results include:
- Julianna Peña def. Raquel Pennington via split decision (48-47, 47-48, 48-47)
- Mario Bautista def. Jose Aldo via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Roman Dolidze def. Kevin Holland via TKO (injury retirement) – Round 1, 5:00
- Kayla Harrison def. Ketlen Vieira via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Joaquin Buckley def. Stephen Thompson via knockout (punches) – Round 3, 2:17
- Iasmin Lucindo def. Marina Rodriguez via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Alexander Hernandez def. Austin Hubbard via split decision (27-30, 29-28, 29-28)
- Cesar Almeida def. Ihor Potieria via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Ryan Spann def. Ovince Saint Preux via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 1:35
- Tecia Pennington def. Carla Esparza via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
- Court McGee def. Tim Means via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 3:19
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.
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