Two of the best female mixed martial arts fighters went head to head last Saturday at the UFC 192 event held in Houston. Jessica Eye, who is ranked sixth in the bantamweight division, fought 12th-ranked Julianna Pena.
Julianna Pena was waiting for an opportunity to get back on her feet after being on the sidelines for the around 16 months due to a severe knee injury after winning the TUF 18 Finale. She is the first female ever to win The Ultimate Fighter event.
Eye, on the other hand, was eager to win a fight because she lost to top contender Miesha Tate in their bout last July. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to do enough to win over Julianna Pena, and suffered a two-fight loss streak. This is the first time Eye encountered back-to-back losses since she started her career five years ago.
During the MMA fight, Julianna Pena managed to close in and initiate a clinch even though Eye started out aggressive. She was able to pin Eye down twice during the first few moments into the opening round. What’s interesting was, Eye is famous for her amazing striking abilities, but she opted to engage Pena using other techniques instead.
Julianna Pena pulled guard when Eye closed in with punches during the first few minutes of the second round. Pena nearly submitted to Eye’s arm-triangle choke, but she managed to wriggle out, escaping a nearly finished fight. After the near miss, Eye tried to do another submission, but Pena was able to dominate the fighter and gained top control. However, what happened next resulted to a deduction in points.
Eye did an illegal knee from the bottom while holding Julianna Pena’s head with her left hand. The referee had to stop the fighters and deducted a point from Eye. After that, the referee opted to restart the fight with both fighters standing, instead of restarting with Pena back to where she was and had side control.
During the final round, Julianna Pena managed to dominate the entire round. She was able to secure an early takedown and got a hold of Eye’s back. When she had a good grip of Eye, Pena locked on a rear-naked choke, which had her opponent’s face turn nearly purple. Eye managed to wriggle out of the choke and escaped the attempted submission. However, she wasn’t able to get back up anymore. Pena secured a one-arm guillotine which ultimately ended the final round.
Julianna Pena won by unanimous decision. All of the three judges decided to award Pena majority of the scores after an impressive fifteen-minute fight.
During the post-fight interview, Pena didn’t deny that Eye is a very tough competitor and is simply happy of the outcome.
“Jessica Eye is a very respectable and skilled opponent, and I’m just happy that I got the win tonight,” Pena said.
When she was asked about the call on Eye’s illegal knee move during the second round and the point deduction given, Pena tried to avoid giving the referee any criticism.
“It’s not my job to decide who gets a point and who doesn’t. The referees are very competent around here, and they do as they see fit,” she said.
After this huge success on Pena’s career, she admitted that she is setting her eyes on women’s MMA bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey next.
“I’m 6-0 in the Octagon, and so is Ronda Rousey. Dana White calls her the Mike Tyson of MMA. Well, I’m Evander Holyfield. I’m right here. I’ll be your huckleberry,” she said.