{"id":32414,"date":"2026-10-13T21:27:35","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T21:27:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/?p=32414"},"modified":"2026-10-13T21:27:35","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T21:27:35","slug":"julianna-pena-set-for-combat-sports-return-in-first-bout-since-ufc-316","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/?p=32414","title":{"rendered":"Julianna Pe\u00f1a set for combat sports return in first bout since UFC 316"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><span class=\"exactmetrics-inline-popular-posts-label\">Trending:<\/span><span class=\"exactmetrics-inline-popular-posts-border\"\/><span class=\"exactmetrics-inline-popular-posts-border-2\"\/>Darren Till gets honest about his performance in win over Yoel Romero<span class=\"photo-credit\">Credit: Ian Maule\/Getty Images <\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Former UFC women\u2019s bantamweight champion Julianna Pe\u00f1a is inching closer to an Octagon return as two former rivals prepare to fight.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As Kayla Harrison and Amanda Nunes prepare to clash at UFC 334 next month, their mutual rival, Julianna Pe\u00f1a, has been on the sidelines for 1 1\/2 years. Pe\u00f1a hasn\u2019t fought since losing the UFC women\u2019s bantamweight title against Harrison in the UFC 316 co-main event last year.<\/p>\n<p>After suffering multiple injuries against Harrison, Pe\u00f1a still hasn\u2019t fought in 2026 as she looks to potentially return to the bantamweight title mix. Her two-time rival, Nunes, will make her first UFC appearance since announcing her retirement at UFC 289.<\/p>\n<p>As Pe\u00f1a attempts to ramp up her activity level, she\u2019ll appear on the Real American Freestyle wrestling mats against a former Bellator standout.<\/p>\n<h2>Julianna Pe\u00f1a set to make Real American Freestyle debut vs. former Bellator standout<\/h2>\n<p>&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>As announced by Real American Freestyle on Tuesday, Pe\u00f1a will face Diana Avsaragova on November 14th in Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n<p>Avsaragova will make her RAF debut in her first combat sports appearance since a loss to Elora Dana at PFL 2 in 2025. She earned wins over Alejandra Lara, Tara Graff, and Gabriella Gulfin during her five-fight stint in Bellator.<\/p>\n<p>Before losing to Harrison at UFC 316, Pe\u00f1a won the then-vacant UFC women\u2019s bantamweight championship by defeating Raquel Pennington at UFC 307. She pulled off arguably the greatest upset in UFC history by defeating Nunes at UFC 269, before a loss in their UFC 277 rematch.<\/p>\n<p>As of this writing, it remains to be seen when Pe\u00f1a will return to the UFC Octagon. A matchup with Ailin Perez, who recently defeated Norma Dumont, is a possibility for Pe\u00f1a\u2019s next opponent.<\/p>\n<p>RAF Abu Dhabi is headlined by a cruiserweight crossover title match between former UFC middleweight champ Khamzat Chimaev and Colby Covington. Two-time Olympic Gold Medalist Abdulrashid Sadulaev also returns against Daurn Kurugliev.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Who should Julianna Pe\u00f1a face in her UFC bantamweight return? Share your thoughts in the comments!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-1 mt-0 os-source\">This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM<\/p>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/julianna-pena\/julianna-pena-set-combat-sports-return-since-ufc-316\/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=julianna-pena-set-combat-sports-return-since-ufc-316\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trending:Darren Till gets honest about his performance in win over Yoel RomeroCredit: Ian Maule\/Getty Images Former UFC women\u2019s bantamweight champion Julianna Pe\u00f1a is inching closer to an Octagon return as two former rivals prepare to fight. As Kayla Harrison and Amanda Nunes prepare to clash at UFC 334 next month, their mutual rival, Julianna Pe\u00f1a,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[534,202,15546,1369,521,774,540,42],"class_list":["post-32414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fighters","tag-bout","tag-combat","tag-julianna","tag-pena","tag-return","tag-set","tag-sports","tag-ufc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32414\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmaallout.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}