Throughout her illustrious UFC career, Amanda Nunes has only lost twice. The first was a TKO finish to Cat Zingano, all the way back in 2014. The second, and the more shocking one, was to Julianna Peña, at UFC 269 in late 2022. ‘The Venezuelan Vixen’ surprised everyone with a second-round submission win over the former two-weight champion. This was no small feat, and certainly would not have been possible without her coaching team.

UFC 307 announces the return of the MMA promotion to Salt Lake City, Utah, with light heavyweight king Alex Pereira, slated to defend his title for the third time in 2024, this time against Khalil Rountree Jr. And in the co-main event of UFC 307, reigning women’s bantamweight champion Raquel Pennington will put her title on the line against former 135-pound queen Julianna Peña. But the question that looms is, does she have enough skills to come out as the winner? Well, to answer that, here’s everything you need to know about her fighting style as well as where she trains to be the best.

Who are Julianna Peña’s coaches? Is she a BJJ Black Belt?

Pennington will defend the title for the first time since winning it by unanimous decision against Mayra Bueno Silva at UFC 297 in January. The title was vacant at the time, following the withdrawal of Amanda Nunes. For her part, Peña returns to the Octagon after a long hiatus of more than two years.

Peña has been trained under MMA coach Rick Little. And while she focuses on her overall MMA training under little, she has also trained under BJJ instructor Luiz Claudio. Under his tutelage, Peña has earned herself a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Her overall skills in MMA and mastery in BJJ have helped her win major fights, such as the one against Amanda Nunes that helped her claim the bantamweight throne.

Julianna Peña’s gyms and teammates

The American fighter has been going to the MMA gym called Sikijitsu since 2008. The famous MMA gym is located in Spokane, Washington, where it has helped produce many notable fighters such as Michael Chiesa, Sam Sicilia, and bantamweight rising star Brady Hiestand. At Sikijitsu, Peña has been training under the aforementioned Rick Little. As for her BJJ training, she went to the LCCT combat team led by Luiz Claudio and Thiago Viega.

One of her prominent training partners has been Josh Gow. It was while training with Gow at Sikjitsu that Peña suffered a knee injury in 2014 that led to her withdrawing from a scheduled fight. Her other notable training partners include Sam Sicilia and Michael Chiesa. With all this experience in hand, the 10-5-0 MMA fighter would now be looking to earn another win and the title. With such combat experience and training, the Venezuelan Vixen would truly prove to be a fierce rival to bantamweight champion Raquel Pennington, who stands with a record of 16-8-0.

But what do you think? Will Peña be able to pull it off at UFC 307? Let us know in the comments.