The youngest of four siblings, Julianna was born and raised in Spokane, Washington.[5] Julianna graduated in 2007 from Mt. Spokane High School.[7] She then attended Spokane Community College.[8] In order to lose weight and channel aggression in her early adulthood, she enrolled in a cardio kickboxing class and subsequently transitioned to mixed martial arts.[5]
Mixed martial arts career
Early career
After going 2–0 as an amateur, Peña made her professional MMA debut in May 2009.[9] She won four consecutive fights but suffered her first defeat in April 2012 to future fellow The Ultimate Fighter 18 cast member Sarah Moras in a 140-pound catchweight bout.[10] The fight took place just two months and one week after Peña was involved in an accident with a drunk driver while walking in downtown Spokane in which she was knocked unconscious and suffered a broken nose.[11][9] Ten months later she returned to professional competition in a fight in the flyweight division, a move down from the bantamweight division, losing by unanimous decision.
Peña faced Gina Mazany in the elimination fight to get into the house. She controlled the fight from early on, winning a clear unanimous decision victory after two rounds.[13][14]
During the first tournament fight in the house, Peña faced veteran and top-ten ranked Shayna Baszler. Ronda Rousey selected this match-up between the two first female picks. The highly ranked and more experienced Baszler was widely considered the favorite. After a back and forth first round in which Peña landed effective boxing combinations and escaped several of Baszler's submission attempts, Peña came out hard in the second round, connecting with powerful knee strikes that staggered Baszler. The fight went to the ground, where Peña was able to achieve back mount and won via rear naked choke for perhaps the biggest upset victory of the season.[15]
In the semifinals, Peña faced off against Sarah Moras. The two fought previously in a professional bout in 2012, with Peña losing after suffering an injury due to an armbar which forced the doctor to stop the bout between the second and third rounds. Peña won the fight via guillotine choke in the second round to avenge the loss.[16]
Peña was expected to face Jessica Andrade at UFC 171 on March 15, 2014.[18] However, Peña pulled out of the bout after suffering an injury to her right knee. She suffered the injury while grappling in training, ultimately damaging, among other aspects, her ACL, MCL, LCL and meniscus. Despite the severity of the injury, doctors assured Peña that her right knee would return to full strength following surgery and rehabilitation.[19] The injury kept Peña out of action for the rest of 2014.[20]
UFC return
Peña returned to face Milana Dudieva on April 4, 2015, at UFC Fight Night 63. She won the fight via TKO in the first round. The win also earned Peña her first Performance of the Night bonus award.[21]
Peña next faced Jessica Eye on October 3, 2015, at UFC 192.[22] She won the fight by unanimous decision.[23]
Peña faced former title challenger Cat Zingano at UFC 200 on July 9, 2016.[24] She won the fight by unanimous decision.[25]
On October 14, 2017, Peña announced that she was pregnant and would be taking an indefinite hiatus from the sport.[28] On July 13, 2019, at UFC Fight Night 155, nearly two and a half years from her last bout, she returned and faced former UFC Women's Flyweight ChampionNicco Montaño, replacing an injured Sara McMann.[29] She won the fight via unanimous decision.[30]
Peña was expected to face Aspen Ladd on March 28, 2020, at UFC on ESPN 8.[31] However, Peña pulled out of the fight in early March citing an injury.[32]
Peña was expected to face Sara McMann on January 16, 2021, at UFC on ABC 1 before being pushed back a week later to UFC 257 on January 24, 2021.[35][36][37] Peña won the fight via submission in round three.[38]
Peña was expected to face Amanda Nunes for the UFC Women's Bantamweight Championship on August 7, 2021, at UFC 265.[41] However Nunes tested positive for COVID-19 on July 29, 2021.[42][43] The bout was rescheduled to UFC 269 on December 11, 2021.[44] After a dominant round one from Nunes, Peña came back in the second to win the bout and championship by rear-naked choke submission in what is regarded as one of the biggest upsets in UFC history.[45][46][47][48]
On February 5, 2022, it was announced that Peña and Nunes would be the coaches for The Ultimate Fighter 30 on ESPN+, which would feature contestants from the heavyweight and women's flyweight divisions.[49]
A trilogy bout with Amanda Nunes was scheduled to take place on June 10, 2023, at UFC 289.[52] However, on May 2, 2023, it was announced that Peña pulled out of the bout due to broken ribs she sustained during training camp. Irene Aldana, who was scheduled to headline UFC Fight Night: Dern vs. Hill, was subsequently chosen to replace her.[53]
Peña was featured in the award-winning mixed martial arts documentary Fight Life, the film is directed by James Z. Feng and was released in 2012.[57]
Peña is an announcer, along with Max Bretos, for Combate Americas' English language broadcast on DAZN.[58]
Personal life
Peña is of Mexican and Venezuelan descent.[59] In January 2018, Peña gave birth to her first child, a daughter.[60]
Julianna Peña is the younger sister of former KREM 2 reporter and meteorologist Grace Peña.[61]
Legal issues
On December 20, 2015, Peña was arrested in Spokane, Washington and charged with two counts of assault due to an altercation with bar staff following an earlier street fight in which Josh Gow, her training partner on the Sikjitsu fight team, had been injured. A judge later granted a stipulation order of continuance in her case such that if Peña had no other incidents for a year, the case would be dismissed.[62]
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