Julianna Peña was able to reclaim the bantamweight title in the co-main event of UFC 307 this past weekend in Salt Lake City.
She emerged victorious over Raquel Pennington, winning a split decision following a closely contested five-round bout.
Judging was a major talking point following the event that had four split decisions in total and Peña acknowledged this in her post-fight interview where she was asked whether she believed she had done enough to get the win at the end:
"I wasn't sure, I heard that these judges tonight were doing some crazy stuff so you never want to leave it in the hands of the judges and that's unfortunate that I went to a decision but I'm happy I got the win. Raquel's a very tough opponent and I'm glad that we could finally put it to bed."
The reaction from the crowd inside the Delta Center wasn't one of celebration for the most part despite Peña saying that she was happy to settle this beef with Pennington that has gone on for a long time.
In order to reclaim the title, "The Venezuelan Vixen" had to overcome being dropped in the fourth round.
She won the first three rounds on two of the scorecards to earn the victory with Pennington coming on strong down the stretch.
"Just a loss of focus and that's what I would say. I got dropped, I'm not sure what it was but definitely like you unfocus for a second and it only takes one second to get dropped so definitely need to be a little more focused next time out."
Joe Rogan's final question to Peña was about the top contender in the division, Kayla Harrison, who cemented her status as the next in line by beating Ketlen Vieira earlier in the night.
Despite the UFC showing Harrison on the broadcast, the only reaction they got was one of disappointment from the former PFL star who rolled her eyes at Peña's response.
The new champion didn't acknowledge Harrison but instead called for a trilogy fight with Amanda Nunes.
Nunes had retired after avenging her loss to Peña and when the new champ couldn't make the originally scheduled trilogy bout due to an injury, Nunes went on to fight Irene Aldana instead and laid her gloves down after defending the belt.
"What I'd really like is for Amanda Nunes to quit ducking and come back inside this Octagon and let's settle it. We're one-and-one, that would be the single greatest fight in mixed martial arts history in the bantamweight division that the sport has ever seen. I do not believe that she's done being retired, I want to see her back inside the Octagon so that we can settle the score once and for all."
Watch the full post-fight interview below:
