Julianna Pena on Ronda Rousey: 'While she's been on vacation, the rest of us have been fighting'

Julianna Pena’s instant reaction to Ronda Rousey’s title shot against Amanda Nunes in December raised some eyebrows earlier this week. Today, she walked things back just a little – but still is sticking to her guns.

On Wednesday, UFC President Dana White announced Rousey (12-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC), the former dominant women’s bantamweight champion, will try to recapture the title against current beltholder Nunes (13-4 MMA, 6-1 UFC) in the UFC 207 main event.

Pena (8-2 MMA, 4-0 UFC) was not a fan of the news. “The Venezulean Vixen” is a perfect 4-0 in the UFC, and if you count her stint on Season 18 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” she’s got an extra three wins against UFC-level women’s bantamweight competition. (She fought for coach Miesha Tate on the show, opposite Rousey, and took out Rousey’s top fighter and friend, Shayna Baszler.)

“It’s bull(expletive),” Pena told MMA Fighting earlier this week after she heard the news. “That spoiled brat has gotten everything handed to her, and she’s getting everything handed to her again. It’s bull(expletive). … She’s literally the worst fighter on the roster, and I can’t stomach the fact that I’m not getting the title shot. I don’t know how they conduct business over there, but they’re going to do what they want no matter what.”

Pena even went so far as to say she’d consider leaving the UFC to fight for a promotion like Combate Americas if the money was right, and if there was a belt involved.

(Pena returns tonight as a color commentator for Combate Americas’ show in New York, which streams on UFC Fight Pass.)

But today, she told MMAjunkie Radio she’s pumping the brakes a little on the talk about bailing out on the UFC – though she’s sticking with her guns on why she believes she’s the best choice to fight Nunes for the title, not Rousey.

“I’m under contract with the UFC, so of course I won’t be competing elsewhere,” Pena said. “But what I was trying to say is that my record and the quality of wins since graduating ‘The Ultimate Fighter,’ I feel, equates to a championship title in any other promotion. I’m just looking for my shot, and I believe I’ve earned it.”

She also clarified what she meant when she told MMA Fighting Rousey was the “worst fighter on the roster.” Rousey will be fighting for the first time since a knockout loss to Holly Holm at UFC 193 in November 2015, a loss that has gone down as one of the biggest upsets in MMA history.

“Ronda is clearly not the worst fighter on the roster,” Pena said. “What I was trying to convey is that she really is in the worst position on the roster because she’s coming off a devastating knockout to ‘Harmless Holly’ and hasn’t competed in 11 months.

“Meanwhile, the belt has switched hands multiple times and the landscape has changed dramatically while she’s been away. I respect her abilities as a fighter and what she’s done for the division, but she was knocked off her perch that was given to her, and I feel like she should have to earn her way back to the top. While she’s been on vacation, the rest of us have been fighting, like me.”

Pena stopped Jessica Rakoczy with one second left in the first round to win the “TUF 18” title. But then she missed nearly 18 months with a severe knee injury. She returned in April 2015 and stopped Milana Dudieva in the first round.

Since then, she has back-to-back unanimous decision wins over two big steps up in competition: Jessica Eye and onetime title challenger Cat Zingano.

The latter came at UFC 200 in July, but if Pena is going to sit back, potentially, to wait for the winner of Nunes-Rousey, she could be looking at a long time on the sidelines. And there’s still no guarantee she’d get the shot at the winner – a harsh reality of the fight game.

“I just feel like I’ve earned it,” she said. “I’m looking for my shot. No other girl has had to fight eight times in order to get close to a title shot, so I guess I’m the only one that has to go that route. I’m going to do that, and it’s just going to be much sweeter in the end.

“I will await the winner and hope … I’m going to do what makes the best sense for me and try to set myself up the best I can as a fighter. I want to fight high-level competition. I want to fight girls that haven’t lost. I want to fight the best in the world. I want to fight girls with some records, not girls that are 1-1. Whatever the best decision that we can come up with is what we’ll do. But until then, I’m just waiting in the wings until we can come up with something better.”

As for that fight between Nunes and Rousey, which has Rousey as the favorite ahead of the Dec. 30 meeting at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas? Pena said she believes the champ is going to win.

“I think Amanda is probably going to knock her out (the way Holm did), but we’ll see how that goes.”

For more on UFC 207, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.