“He Told Me Leave That Gym Now” – Julianna Peña Tells Joe Rogan How Dana White Fueled Negative Attention

Published 01/28/2022, 7:31 AM EST

Injuries are a part of combat sports. Several MMA fighters have experienced injuries while fighting in the ring or training in their gyms. However, some injuries can be debilitating enough to force the athletes to take a step back. UFC women’s bantamweight champion Julianna Peña is one such fighter who suffered a gruesome injury while grappling with her training partner.

She appeared on ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ where they discussed this particular painful knee injury that she had sustained in 2014. Because of it, Peña had to pull out of a fight. Further, she also spoke about how UFC President Dana White made a big deal out of it.

Peña said, “I went to the gym angry and ready to like mess something up. And the training partner that I was with couldn’t take me down. We were fighting for real. And so, at one point, he was just hugging on my neck, trying to take me down in desperation.”

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“And we ended up being like shoulder to shoulder and he is like pulling me from the neck this way, trying to pull me down.… my leg got stuck in the mat and it just completely caved… sideways. I tore four out of five ligaments.”

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“I called Dana as I’m on the way to the hospital, crying, telling him about my knee and that was the biggest mistake ever because he literally blew it up… He told me ‘leave that gym now!’ Like he made it a really big deal and it just brought so much negative attention to my gym,” she added.

What’s next for Julianna Peña?

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The fighter’s knee injury could have been a career-ending one. However, it doesn’t seem to be stopping her in any way; especially after her shockingly great performance against Amanda Nunes.

The UFC women’s bantamweight champion will surely have exciting fights in the future. As of now, Peña and Nunes both seem interested in a rematch. Hence, the bantamweight title rematch could be next for ‘The Venezuelan Vixen’.

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Do you want to see Peña fight against Nunes once again? Let us know in the comments below.

Watch this story: Jon Jones, Francis Ngannou, and Other Popular UFC Fighters Whom Dana White Dislikes

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Written by:

Rohini Kottu is a UFC Writer at EssentiallySports. She is also a Psychologist and has a Master's degree in Clinical Psychology. Rohini, in her role as a UFC writer, combines her admiration for the mental resilience that MMA fighters have and her love for analysis.

“He Told Me Leave That Gym Now” – Julianna Peña Tells Joe Rogan How Dana White Fueled Negative Attention

What’s next for Julianna Peña?

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