The rivalry between UFC’s bantamweight champion Julianna Pena and challenger Kayla Harrison has reached a boiling point as their UFC 316 title fight approaches on June 7, 2025. The two have been trading verbal jabs since their heated press conference at UFC 307 in October of 2024, where both secured wins, setting the stage for their grudge match. Pena, a two-time UFC champion, has repeatedly questioned Harrison’s credentials, while Harrison, a two-time olympic gold medalist and former PFL star, dismisses Pena’s trash talk as “cringe.”
The latest escalation came when Pena accused Harrison of fabricating her disinterest in fame and dodging a fight with Cris Cyborg, which is only adding more fuel to the fire, upping their bad blood even more.
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Pena recently appeared on the Ariel Helwani show and dismissed Harrison’s claim that she doesn’t chase fame, by calling it “BS.” Pena argued that Harrison’s high-profile UFC signing and rapid title shot were fueled by her star power and more promotional favoritism than anything else, dismissing her fighting skills. Pena said, “I don’t wanna be famous… BULL! If you didn’t then you would have never came to the UFC. You would have never tried to jump the line, in front of all these girls that have been putting in 10 years in this division to fight for a title.” Referencing Harrison’s mere 2 UFC fights so far.
“If you didn’t (care about the fame), you would have taken the million dollars, and you would have fought Cris Cyborg if you were the best of the best. But she didn’t wanna do that, she didn’t wanna prove herself against Cris and that’s why she came running to the UFC, and she’s gonna have to pay for it with her body of having to make this weight.”
Harrison personally has denied all these attacks that Pena has launched at her time and time again. She has denied all the accusations and insisted focus is on proving herself in the octagon, and not chasing headlines. As the UFC 316 co-main event nears, Pena’s provocative claims have added more fuel to an already explosive rivalry, with fans eargerly awaiting whether Harrison can silence her doubters or if Pena will once again defy the odds like she did with Amanda Nunes earlier.
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