It was a five-round title bout that was far from thrilling and produced a disputed decision. But, in the end, Julianna Pena put her name in the history books as the second two-time women’s bantamweight champion in UFC history.
Pena did just enough despite being dropped late to outpoint defending champion Raquel Pennington on Saturday via split decision in the co-main event of UFC 307. Pena (12-5) took home judges’ scores of 48-47 on two cards while the third judge scored it the same for Pennington (16-9) inside the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The fight was Pena’s first in more than two years since she lost a wide decision to Amanda Nunes in their title rematch. The 35-year-old Pena used timely takedowns and a stiff jab to score her first win since submitting Nunes via monster upset in their first fight back in 2021.
“I heard these judges are doing some crazy stuff tonight,” Pena said. “You can never leave it in the judges’ hands and it’s unfortunate that it went to a decision but I’m happy I got the win. Raquel is a very tough opponent and I’m happy that we can finally put [disagreements between them] to bed.”
Pennington, 36, was a teammate of Pena some 11 years ago on the 18th…
