The noted UFC bantamweight Julianna Peña stands as the only one who managed to put a break in the famed UFC icon Amanda Nunes’s reign as a champ-champ. But ‘The Lioness’ showcased her true class by reclaiming her UFC bantamweight gold from Peña at UFC 277 via a unanimous decision. It also disappointed a large chunk of fans when ‘The Venezuelan Vixen’ had to withdraw from their coveted trilogy fight scheduled for UFC 289 due to a rib injury.

Nunes took on Irene Aldana in place of Peña and defeated her via a TKO at UFC 289. But to the shock of the fans, she declared her retirement post her victory. Quite naturally, she also vacated her UFC bantamweight and featherweight titles. Amidst such a situation, most fans may have expected that Peña would get the first shot at the vacated UFC bantamweight title. But ‘Dana White and Co.’ have announced that it will be Raquel Pennington and Mayra Bueno Silva who will clash for the title at the co-main event of UFC 297. This might also leave fans wondering why Peña hasn’t been given the title shot. Let’s find out why is it so.

Julianna Peña labeled the upcoming UFC 297 bout as an interim title fight

The 34-year-old appeared on Ariel Helwani’s noted podcast, ‘The MMA Hour’s’ live edition, and talked about various issues. Well, most fans may know that Helwani is an expert at getting fighters to reveal a lot of their opinions that they don’t generally present. He also subjected Peña to questions about her rivalry with the famed Amanda Nunes.

Amidst all of this, Helwani also tried to gain some information about why Peña wasn’t given a shot at the vacant UFC bantamweight title. ‘The Venezuelan Vixen’ showcased a bit of brashness as she labeled the UFC 297 bantamweight title fight between Pennington and Silva as an interim title fight. Her words read, “I’m sorry you guys are going to be force fed this horrible interim title fight — it’s going to be interim because they’re belt-warming until I come back”.

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But she revealed the actual reason for dropping her opportunity to fight for the title at UFC 297 right after this statement. Peña said, “I know that everyone didn’t believe me when I said I had to fall out when I was fighting Amanda [for the trilogy bout], but I legitimately did have an injury and I’m still trying to heal from that”.

Well, most fans may have gained an understanding of why Peña isn’t there in the UFC 297 title fight. But do we have any information about when she can make a return to the Octagon?

Julianna Peña also gave out a rough hint about the timeline of her return

Fighters getting sidelined from competing due to injuries is a part and parcel of the UFC world. But in most cases, the fighters are responsible enough to update their fans with their latest happenings. Peña had also detailed that she was pulling out of her UFC 289 fight due to a rib injury. But such updates often come with a possible timeline around which the fighter is expected to make their return.

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Until her appearance on ‘The MMA Hour’, fans had no idea how long Peña would take to make a return to the Octagon. But, in her chat with Helwani, ‘The Venezuelan Vixen’ couldn’t help giving out when she was planning to make a comeback. She said, “I won’t be back until summer”. So MMA fans will have to wait to see her back in action.

Most fans know that the US starts experiencing summer in almost mid-June every year. Hence, it’s quite apparent that Amanda Nunes’ worst rival might stay out of action till then. But do you think she will get a title shot right after her return as she stated in her ‘The MMA Hour’ appearance? Even if she does, do you think she will be able to defeat her rival?

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