When Dana White tied a bantamweight belt round Juliana Pea’s waist after one of many greatest upheavals in UFC historical past, the president of the promotion instantly thought he first met her virtually eight years in the past.
The approach White remembers it, Pea discovered him at his sons’ jiu-jitsu event. She charged on the govt, held out her hand and mentioned: “I’m going to fight for you someday, and I’m going to be world champion.”
“Never doubt me again!” I
What’s the efficiency of the brand new UFC Bantamweight Champion, @venezuelanvixen I #UFC269 pic.twitter.com/mY5MYaPHk9
— UFC (@ufc) December 12, 2021
Pea’s journey from that cheeky introduction to this triumphant second has taken her down a path she by no means imagined, together with main reconstructive knee surgical procedure in 2014 and the detour to the start of her daughter in 2018. . She pursued her dream in opposition to these life odds and regardless of her two current losses, which culminated on Saturday night time as essentially the most achieved champion in ladies’s blended martial arts historical past.
When Pea emerged from UFC 269 as the primary new bantamweight champion since 2016, nobody within the sport was much less shocked than the 10-to-1 underdog himself.
“I’m not surprised,” Pea mentioned. “I know I have a big, huge will and determination. You can do whatever you want in this life. I’ve been through the wash. I’ve done it all. I’ve torn everything whose You can think about it. Ran from cars, bump into friends in the streets. I’ve done it all. No one could stop me from getting this belt. It’s been 13 years of grinding, and it’s finally a success. It’s my time.”
Pea’s time because the UFC’s new 135-pound champion started with a career-defining victory over an opponent he hadn’t misplaced since 2014.
Although she took appreciable injury from Nunes’ punches and barely survived the primary spherical with out a loss, Pea displayed shockingly efficient placing that was an excessive amount of for Nunes, the perfect striker within the ladies’s sport. Nunes was injured and exhausted within the second spherical, however his reign ended earlier than failing to keep away from a rear-naked choke.
Nunes had confronted virtually everybody over the previous seven years, together with the famously ruthless knockouts of Ronda Rousey and Chris “Cyborg” Justino. Pea took Nunes’ large photographs and stood straight – and Nunes did not have the power or endurance to provide you with one other plan.
“It doesn’t matter how strong you are, how big you are, how hard you work,” White mentioned. “At the end of the day, in a five-round fight, it comes down to who is in a better position.”
Pea’s reminiscence of her first assembly with White is considerably completely different: she says she tracked him down in a Las Vegas gymnasium shortly after the UFC joined ladies’s MMA and on “The Ultimate Fighter” for girls. Planned to look, which has been occurring for a very long time. actuality present. She discovered White behind Syndicate MMA Gym and mentioned: “My name is Juliana Pea and I’m going to win The Ultimate Fighter.”
Pea did the very same factor in November 2013, however broke her proper knee a number of months later in coaching and couldn’t struggle once more till 2015. He challenged Nunes for the primary time since successful at UFC 200 in 2016, however Pea felt Nunes by no means took him severely. A title challenger, and perceived disrespect fueled his coaching.
Nunes remains to be the UFC’s 145-pound featherweight champion, however each White and Pea mentioned they may have an additional bantamweight rematch in the event that they needed to. Pea’s confidence will solely develop, and even White wonders if the 33-year-old Nunes’ greatest days are abrupt, stunning.
“She’s been on top forever,” White mentioned. “He has some huge cash, and now he has a toddler, a household. These issues change you.”
Pea plans to have fun her title together with her daughter over the vacations, however the expertise remains to be so new to her that she has to learn to do it correctly. When she gained the struggle the primary time, she did not know why it was stopped as a result of she did not really feel Nunes’ faucet – and eventually realizing she was a world champion, she climbed onto the cage and began screaming. Rakes. Just a whiff of concern.
“I’ve been doing it for 13 years, and I’ve never jumped on a cage before,” she mentioned. “He told me, ‘It’s time to get in the cage.’ When I woke up there, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s kind of scary.'”
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
