Not actually featuring in this weekend’s vacant bantamweight champion at UFC 297, former divisional queen, Julianna Peña is emerging as betting favorite to lay claim to the 135 pound come the end of the year – ahead of incoming competitors, Raquel Pennington, and Mayra Bueno Silva.
Peña, a former undisputed bantamweight champion and the current number one ranked divisional contender, has been sidelined through the last year amid an injury suffered ahead of a scheduled June title trilogy fight rubber match with the retired, Amanda Nunes.
And yet to be booked to make her return to the Octagon, Washington native, Peña, has been steadfast in her claim that while Pennington and Bueno Silva meet in a vacant title fight at UFC 297 this weekend in Toronto, the two are just fighting for the right to fight her next.