Julianna
Pena’s suggestion of a women’s version of the BMF belt failed
to pique the interest of
Ultimate Fighting Championship officials.
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Pena is rumored to challenge Raquel
Pennington for the women’s bantamweight title at UFC 307
on Oct. 5 in Salt Lake City, Utah. While Pena would have preferred
to fight at UFC
306 at the Sphere like many other fighters, she was told her
opponent wouldn’t be ready in September. Pena is now focused on
being a two-time mom-champ, which she believes is the next best
thing for her.
“I loved the idea of fighting in Las Vegas again, of course at the
Sphere, would have been historic,” Pena told MMAjunkie.com. “But since that option is no
longer available, my next best thing would be winning the title and
becoming a second-time champion. And being someone who gave birth
and was able to win the belt. I think that says a lot as far as
being a badass mom.”
Pena previously laid claim to the status of first-ever mom-champion
after her historic upset win over Amanda
Nunes at UFC 269 in December 2021. While Cristiane
Justino and Amanda
Nunes were mothers and champions before Pena, “Cyborg” had
adopted her teenage niece and Nunes’ partner, Nina Nunes,
gave birth to their child.
Pena also proposed a women’s parallel of the BMF belt, the BFM
[Baddest F—ing Mother] title, while calling for her title shot
against Pennington. Only mothers, whether they birthed the child or
not, would be eligible to compete for the BFM title suggested by
Pena. However, Pena revealed that it is unlikely to come to
fruition as the idea was turned down by the UFC as “corny.” “The
Venezuelan Vixen” has at this point given up hopes of any
non-official titles for the women’s divisions.
“I told them when they were doing the BMF belt that I wanted a BFM
belt,” she said. “So instead of it being ‘Baddest Motherf’er,’ I
wanted it to be, ‘Baddest F’ing Mother.’ So, like you can only
fight for the belt if you’re a mom. Whether you had the baby or
didn’t have the baby. I think moms fighting for the belt,
especially because we give birth and give life, which is the
hardest thing a woman can do, I think that that would have been
cool to have that ‘Baddest F’ing Mother’ belt. They don’t like my
idea, they think it’s corny.
“But I don’t think that they are going to make that [BMF] eligible
for women. I have been calling for it and since I’ve been calling
for it then I tried, [they told me] ‘No, no, no, no girls.’ And so
I was like, ‘All right let’s change it, let’s have our own belt for
just like moms.’ And they said, ‘No, no, no, no that’s corny.’ I
mean I am just at this point giving up on the idea of being
eligible to fight for the Baddest F’ing Mother belt or the Baddest
Motherf’er belt.’”
Pena hasn’t fought since dropping a lopsided decision in her
rematch against Nunes at UFC 277 in July 2022. While they were
slated for a trilogy clash at UFC 289 last year, Pena pulled out
due to an injury and was replaced by Irene
Aldana on short notice. “The Lioness” went on to retire after a
one-sided unanimous decision win over Aldana. Pena still hopes to
lure Nunes out of retirement by winning the title.