Given her history of upsetting the odds, former UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion Julianna Peña is welcoming the underdog status attached to her this week.
For the third straight fight in her career, gold will be on the line when Peña makes the walk at Saturday's UFC 307 pay-per-view, set for the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.
"The Venezuelan Vixen" is set to co-headline the event in competition for Raquel Pennington's 135-pound title. Peña previously won the belt and subsequently lost it in a two-fight series with Amanda Nunes.
Having not competed since her rematch with the "Lioness" in June 2022, the former champ is being counted out by some. That's reflected in the odds, with her line currently at +136 on DraftKings.
But Peña has absolutely no qualms about entering her title challenge as the underdog...
Peña Doesn't Feel Like The Underdog At UFC 307
During a recent interview with Kevin Iole, Peña looked ahead to her first outing in over two years and chance to regain the title at 135 pounds.
While Pennington is favored to retain possession of the championship by the oddsmakers, "The Venezuelan Vixen" is more than ready to prove her doubters wrong — again.
It doesn't (surprise me). I think I was an 11-1 underdog at one point when I was fighting Amanda," Peña said. "If you go back to the majority of my fights, I am always the underdog. In fact, right off the top of my head, I can't even think of a time when I was the favorite.
It's just kind of like, I am that underdog role. I always have been," Peña continued. "At the end of the day, it's what I believe in my heart. I don't feel like I'm the underdog. I'm very confident in what I am able to do. So you can call me an underdog, you can call me a favorite, you can call me whatever you want. Just remember that I am Julianna Peña, and I'm going to go in there and get my hand raised at any and all cost.
While it wouldn't mark the kind of shock win she achieved back in December 2021, Peña will be hoping to upset the odds once again en route to the women's bantamweight throne this weekend.
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