‘I Tore Four Out of Five Ligaments’- Julianna Pena Narrates How She Broke Her Leg After Winning the Ultimate Fighter

The queen of the bantamweight division, ‘The Venezuelan Vixen’ Julianna Pena, made an appearance in Joe Rogan’s podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. The 32-year-old fighter changed the course of her career at UFC 269, by beating the dominant champion, ‘The Lioness’ Amanda Nunes. Pena’s journey towards the top wasn’t easy, as she suffered many heartbreaking losses and even fought her way through a career-ending injury.

In a conversation with UFC Icon, and commentator, Joe Rogan, The Venezuelan Vixen shed light on how the injury occurred back in 2014, which caused her to step away for an entire year. Pena had just come out as the winner of Ultimate Fighter 18 and it also made her the first-ever female to win the show. She has now become yet another name, who picked up UFC Gold after winning the show, much like her compeers Matt Serra, Forrest Griffin, TJ Dillashaw, Carla Esparza, and many more. 

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She said, “I can tell you that I was in that moment very angry at that time. I was angry at my the relationship that I was in at that time. I went to the gym angry and ready to mess something up and the training partner that I was with couldn’t take me down and we were fighting for real.”

“And at one point, he was just hugging on my neck, trying to take me down in desperation, and we ended up being like shoulder to shoulder, and he is pulling me from the neck, this way.(towards left) to pull me down, And my leg got stuck in the mat and it just completely caved, sideways, I tore four out of five ligaments and when I went to step down on the mat, my whole knee was like just like it came out underneath me. It was like one of those disgusting things, like just flopping all over the place.”

Julianna Pena vs Amanda Nunes 2 could set new records

Following her biggest victory at UFC 26, Pena is gearing up for a fight against the former champion. The Lioness has ruled not just the bantamweight division, but also the featherweight class as well. This marks her first loss in well over 8 years, which definitely warrants an immediate rematch. No MMA fighter in recent history has managed to dominate over Nunes the way Pena did, which would definitely make this one of the biggest rematches.

Julianna Pena has already suggested the promotion to book a season of ultimate fighter between them on the way to the rematch. The UFC champion has stated that it will truly be a dream come true moment, as she has already won the competition once.

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Would you like to see a season of Ultimate Fighter between them?