Julianna Pena won’t be returning to the octagon any time soon; the UFC women’s bantamweight contender is pregnant.
Pena (8-3 MMA, 4-1 UFC) today revealed that she’s expecting the birth of her first child, and seeing as she obviously can’t fight while pregnant (or shouldn’t, anyway), her MMA career is on hold for the time being (via Instagram):
A post shared by Julianna Nicole Peña (@venezuelanvixen) on
Pena, No. 3 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA women’s bantamweight rankings, hasn’t competed since January. She suffered a second-round submission loss to No. 2-ranked Valentina Shevchenko in UFC on FOX 23’s main event, which marked her first defeat inside the octagon.
In the time since that fight, Pena has moved from her longtime home of Spokane, Wash., to the Chicago area, where she she’s in a relationship with a police offer and father of her child.
Pena did not reveal exactly how far along she is in her pregnancy, but regardless, it’s unlikely she returns to UFC competition until the later portion of 2018.
For more on the UFC schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.
view original article >>