Julianna Pena has some heat with Ronda Rousey and she hopes to see her back inside the Octagon.
Pena is the current UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion. Rousey has been away from pro MMA competition since late 2016. With that said, Rousey still holds the record for the most successful UFC Women’s Bantamweight Title defenses.
Beef Between Julianna Pena & Ronda Rousey
Julianna Pena won season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter. On the show, she was coached by Miesha Tate. Pena and Rousey never got along in the TUF house. Here’s what Pena told the New York Post on her issues with Rousey.
“We’re not friends. We don’t speak. She really had a tough time getting along with me on The Ultimate Fighter. She didn’t like me at all because I was friends with Miesha Tate. She wasn’t the nicest.”
“It would be amazing to pull Ronda Rousey back out of retirement. It would be great to have her come back to UFC and fight again. I don’t know that she’ll recall this because she ended up getting taken out by her entire team. But when we won ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ and got out of the house, she told me that, ‘You’re gonna give me a tougher fight than Miesha Tate, but when that day comes I’m still gonna kick your ass.’ I kind of said to her, ‘We’ll see.’”
Many feel it’s unlikely that Rousey will ever make her return to the Octagon. With that said, we have seen Rousey’s fierce rival Miesha Tate make a comeback so never say never.
Pena captured the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship in a massive upset victory over Amanda Nunes. The title fight headlined UFC 269 inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada back in December. Pena submitted Nunes via rear-naked choke in the second round.
