Julianna Pena can once again call herself UFC Bantamweight Champion.
Pena got past Raquel Pennington in a razor-thin split decision result on Saturday night, pulling away with a victory by the margin of just one round on two scorecards.
Pena’s title win at UFC 307 came down to how judges saw the opening round of the fight, as the three official scorecards were all in agreement regarding how rounds two to five went.
The first round saw the bantamweights work at a slow and cautious pace on the feet, still in the feeling-out process of a lengthy title clash. While Pena statistically out-landed Pennington during the round, many saw Pennington score with the cleaner shots during the first frame.
The rest of the fight was easy to score, with both fighters putting together a pair of solid rounds each. Pena controlled the second and third rounds on the ground, getting on the back of Pennington and threatening a rear naked choke. The striking of Pennington allowed her to end the fight on a strong note, putting together boxing that caused trouble for Pena and even dropped her in the fourth round.
While Pennington had a solid final few minutes in the bout, it wasn’t enough to earn her the scorecard nod. The fight’s result proved to be controversial, with an overwhelming number of media scorecards submitted to MMADecisions.com seeing the fight as a 48-47 victory in favor of Pennington.
Pena is now the second-ever women’s bantamweight fighter to have a second title reign. She briefly held the belt a few years back, scoring a massive upset over Amanda Nunes in late 2021 with a second-round rear naked choke. Nunes, who is now retired, regained her belt the next year with an incredibly one-sided decision.
Pena seemingly isn’t done with Nunes, even though Nunes seems to be done with MMA as a whole. When asked her thoughts on a fight against Kayla Harrison, a two-time PFL champ who won earlier in the evening, Pena instead turned her focus to a trilogy fight against Nunes.
Pennington, the first champ crowned since Nunes exited the sport last year, started her title reign in January with a decision victory over Brazil’s Mayra Bueno Silva. Saturday’s co-main event marked her first defeat since 2020, ending the longest winning streak of her career thus far.
Main Card (10:00PM EDT / 8:00PM MDT) (PPV)
Bout 12: Alex Pereira def. Khalil Rountree Jr. via TKO, Strikes (RD 4, 4:32) (UFC Light Heavyweight Championship)
Bout 11: Julianna Pena def. Raquel Pennington via Decision, Split (UFC Bantamweight Championship)
Bout 10: Mario Bautista def. Jose Aldo via Decision, Split
Bout 9: Roman Dolidze def. Kevin Holland via TKO, Injury (RD 1, 5:00)
Bout 8: Kayla Harrison def. Ketlen Vieira via Decision, Unanimous
Preliminary Card (8:00PM EDT / 6:00PM MDT) (ESPNews / ESPN+)
Bout 7: Joaquin Buckley def. Stephen Thompson via TKO, Strikes (RD 3, 2:17)
Bout 6: Iasmin Lucindo def. Marina Rodriguez via Decision, Split
Bout 5: Alexander Hernandez def. Austin Hubbard via Decision, Split
Bout 4: Cesar Almeida def. Ihor Potieira via Decision, Unanimous
Early Prelims (6:30PM EDT / 4:30PM MDT) (ESPN+ / UFC Fight Pass)
Bout 3: Ryan Spann def. Ovince St. Preux via Submission, Guillotine Choke (RD 1, 1:35)
Bout 2: Tecia Pennington def. Carla Esparza via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 1: Court McGee def. Tim Means via Submission, Neck Crank (RD 1, 3:19)
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