Latest news with #JuliannaPeña
New York Post
20 hours ago
- Sport
- New York Post
UFC champ Julianna Pena visits Giants: ‘Incredible experience'
The Giants are a ways off from returning to championship glory. Perhaps Julianna Peña showed them a thing or two about climbing back to the top. Advertisement The UFC women's bantamweight champion, now in her second reign, enjoyed her visit to Giants practice earlier this week ahead of her UFC 316 title defense Saturday at Prudential Center against Kayla Harrison, with several players vowing to be in attendance in Newark. 'That was an incredible experience, one that I'll never forget,' Peña told reporters at Wednesday's media day in Morristown, N.J. 'I am so grateful to the New York Giants. I am a massive football fan.'
Forbes
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
UFC 316: 10 Things You Need To Know About Saturday's PPV
It feels like it's been at least two months since the last UFC PPV. In reality, it's been less than a month. UFC 315 was on May 10. Perhaps it seems as though it's been such a long time because the cards between then and now have been pretty lackluster. That's going to change on Saturday as the UFC's epic summer schedule gets underway. Here's the 10 things you should know about UFC 316. UFC 316 is scheduled for Saturday, June 7, 2025. The event takes place at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. A bantamweight title rematch between reigning champion Merab Dvalishvili and former titleholder Sean O'Malley. Dvalishvili dethroned O'Malley in September 2024 at Noche UFC to win the title. Since winning the title, Dvalishvili has successfully defended it once in January against Umar Nurmagomedov. Julianna Peña defends her women's bantamweight title against Olympic gold medalist and former Professional Fighters League featherweight champion, Kayla Harrison. This fight marks Peña's first title defense during her second championship reign. Harrison has a chance to become the first woman to hold a PFL and UFC world title. The female G.O.A.T is poised to make a return to the Octagon. She will likely be in New Jersey to face off with the winner following the co-main event. Look for the winner to face Nunes for the bantamweight title later this year. The former Bellator bantamweight champ Patchy Mix debuts in the UFC with a 20-1 record and 13 submission wins. Mix is one of the best bantamweights in the world and he makes his promotional debut against a tough contender in Mario Bautista. Quite honestly, as good as Bautista is, if Mix doesn't win, there will be serious doubt as to whether he'll be a title contender in the UFC. So far, none of the champions who have come over from Bellator have proven to be on that same level in the UFC. Will Mix be the first? While neither Khaos Williams nor Andreas Gustafsson figure to be championship contenders, both men have proven they are about that fight life. From a pure fighting style standpoint, you couldn't ask for a better matchup if you want to see two fighters get after it. There's some other compelling matchups along this line (Luque-Holland, Gastelum-Pyfer, Pena-Harrison), but Williams-Gustafsson could easily be the best fight of the night.
USA Today
a day ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Julianna Peña says she's defending herself, not trash talking in UFC 316 buildup
Julianna Peña says she's defending herself, not trash talking in UFC 316 buildup Show Caption Hide Caption UFC 316: Julianna Peña media day interview UFC 316 co-headliner Julianna Peña spoke to MMA Junkie and reporters at media day for her women's bantamweight title fight vs. Kayla Harrison. MORRISTOWN, N.J. – Julianna Peña says the shots she's fired at Kayla Harrison were done defensively – not offensively. Ahead of their UFC 316 clash Saturday, both Peña (13-5 MMA, 8-3 UFC) and Harrison (18-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) had their time to speak Wednesday with reporters including MMA Junkie. While Harrison said she is unbothered by the trash talk, Peña said the label misrepresents what's happened in actuality. The bout is the co-main event at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.. "I am not trash talking, I'm simply defending myself," Peña said. "This all started before I even knew who Kayla Harrison was. When I beat Amanda Nunes, I saw this blond girl sitting cageside, freaking out, cussing and having all sorts of obscenities to say about me for beating Amanda Nunes and throwing a gigantic wrench in her plans. She's been trash talking me for a long time, long before I even knew who she was. It created more of a problem for me when I said it was going to be the media's fault. It was going to be the media's fault. They were going to have blood on their hands for you guys giving me the delusion to think that I could hang with her and stand across the octagon from her. "Then her agent had made a comment that she was going to win by murder and that she was going to catch some murder charges because she was going to murder me. These are the things that me talking back is my way of defending myself. I believe that it's trash talk, but I'm just responding to the things and the allegations and the horrendous comments that she's made about me. She needs to take accountability for the things that she said and it's my job to do that on Saturday night." Should Peña dish out that accountability, it'll be her first successful title defense and a huge betting upset. Though it was quick, her first title reign began with an all-time upset against Amanda Nunes in 2022, who she could face again should she win Saturday. So how does the underdog win? "The last time you guys counted me out, you had to take it up the you-know-what," Peña said, when asked where her confidence comes from. "I think that's one of the things. I think the preparation and that I've been doing this for a long time. I've been fighting since 2008. When you put so much blood, sweat, and tears into everything and you're that dedicated and that passionate, there's only good things that can happen. I think that's what gives me the confidence."
USA Today
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
UFC 316 'Embedded' No. 3: Julianna Peña visits Russell Wilson and the New York Giants
UFC 316 'Embedded' No. 3: Julianna Peña visits Russell Wilson and the New York Giants The UFC is back in New Jersey for UFC 316, its sixth pay-per-view of the calendar year, and the popular "Embedded" fight week video series is here to document what's happening behind the scenes. UFC 316 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) takes place Saturday at Prudential Center in Newark. In the headliner, bantamweight champion champion Merab Dvalishvili (19-4 MMA, 12-2 UFC) takes on challenger and ex-champ Sean O'Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) in a rematch. In the co-feature, women's bantamweight titleholder Julianna Peña (13-5 MMA, 8-3 UFC) meets Kayla Harrison (18-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC), a two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time PFL $1 million champion who is one of the biggest title challenger betting favorites in UFC history. In addition, former Bellator bantamweight champion Patchy Mix (20-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) makes his highly anticipated UFC debut after freeing himself from the PFL when he takes on Mario Bautista (15-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC). The third episode of "Embedded" follows the featured fighters while they get ready for fight week. Here is the UFC's description of the episode from YouTube: Kayla Harrison shows off her farm before heading to New Jersey; Sean O'Malley simulates the crowd for training and gets his hair done; Champ Merab Dvalishvili trains in his garage; Champ Julianna Peña goes to a baby shower and visits the New York Giants practice facility to hang out with Russell Wilson. Previous UFC 316 'Embedded' episodes
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
UFC full fight video: Julianna Peña pulls off all-time stunner against GOAT Amanda Nunes
Dec. 11, 2021 was one of the most shocking days in MMA history. At UFC 269, Julianna Peña pulled off one of the biggest, if not the biggest, upsets in history when she stopped all-time great Amanda Nunes and took her UFC women's bantamweight crown. Nunes entered the fight on a 12-fight winning streak, a run that spanned six years and eliminated any debate on who's the greatest pound-for-pound female fighter in MMA history. Few expected Peña to win, yet she marched forward and out-slugged the Brazilian to eventually lock in a submission. Advertisement You can rewatch Peña's huge upset win in the video above. Peña (13-5 MMA, 8-3 UFC) returns to the octagon Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 316 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. She starts her second title reign with an attempted defense against two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time PFL champion Kayla Harrison (18-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC), who is a massive favorite as the challenger to win the belt. This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC 269 full fight video: Julianna Peña vs. Amanda Nunes 1
