Raquel Pennington Admits Julianna Pena Got Under Her Skin During ‘TUF 18’

When Raquel
Pennington and Julianna
Pena were part of “The Ultimate Fighter 18” cast in 2013, it
seemed as though they would be destined to meet — either on the
show or shortly thereafter.

However, the two bantamweights didn’t cross paths on the show, and
it took more than a decade before they were finally booked to meet
within the Las Vegas-based promotion. On Saturday, Pennington will
defend her 135-pound belt against Pena in the UFC 307
co-main event at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. In a
recent interview with MMAjunkie.com, Pennington looked back on her
interactions with Pena on “TUF 18,” where she quickly learned that
their personalities didn’t mesh.

“I’m not going to sit here and say I hate Julianna. I don’t hate
anybody. I don’t have all these ill emotions towards her,”
Pennington said. “Did she get under my skin on ‘The Ultimate
Fighter’? Absolutely. On top of being taken out of your comfort
zone, you’re living with somebody, but we have very, very, very
different personality types. When I first went into ‘The Ultimate
Fighter’ I didn’t know anybody. I remember Julianna, they were
bullying her and I felt bad for her. We ended up on the same team
and we were roommates, and it was like, ‘OK, cool. I’m going to
befriend you.’ I quickly learned our different personalities and it
was like, ‘Uh, OK.’”

Pena would go on to win “TUF 18,” while Pennington suffered an
injury. While “Rocky” admits that she has asked for a fight against
Pena in the past, it didn’t come to fruition until now.

“It’s just been one of those things where on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’
I felt like Dana [White] thought we were going to match up on the
finale and she ended up winning the season and [I got injured]. …
It didn’t play out that way. I don’t know how we didn’t line up in
the last 11 years,” Pennington said. “It’s a fight that I’ve asked
for.”

UFC 307 will mark Pena’s first Octagon appearance since July 2022.
An injury prevented her from taking part in a trilogy bout against
Amanda
Nunes at UFC 289 in June 2023, and “The Venezuelan Vixen” has
been out of action since then. As a result, Pennington admits to
spending some time preparing for Kayla
Harrison in the event Pena is forced to withdraw from their
booking. Harrison is slated to meet Ketlen
Vieira on the UFC 307 main card.

“Honestly, I prepared for this as both Julianna and Kayla. Julianna
does have a history of getting injured,” Pennington said. “I know
that Kayla made the comment about wanting to be the backup fighter.
This wasn’t just one fight camp that was like, ‘OK, here’s one
person that we’re focusing on. I’ve broke down two athletes and
prepared in two different directions.”