Juliana Pena I have concerns Kayla Harrisonof Professional cleanliness.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bantamweight division has been relatively stagnant since vacating its previous champion. Amanda Nunesretired in June 2023. Six months later, the division had a new champion. Raquel Pennington For the vacant title Mayra Bueno Silva He won by unanimous decision at UFC 297 in January 2024.
Former champion Peña maintains she's still in the running for the title, despite being sidelined since losing it to Nunes in July 2022 (watch the highlights below). After Pennington's win, the aforementioned Harrison burst onto the UFC scene with a big win at UFC 300 and could now be Pennington's next opponent, but Peña wants a clean fight.
“Don't touch the needle,” Pena said. MMA Hour“Maybe not now [is she on steroids] But it's definitely in the past. Absolutely. No question about it.”
Peña, 34, explained that his reason for thinking Harrison wasn't clean came from a recent incident during International Fight Week 2024. Peña said the promotion gave its athletes a social media seminar that was followed by an anti-doping seminar, but Harrison was absent.
“I already have this idea that people are cheating, and ATT in particular is 100% cheating,” Peña said.
“When Dan Lambert flew me in after I won The Ultimate Fighter, they literally told me all the girls were in the bathrooms shooting steroids up each other's asses,” she concluded.
Harrison, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in judo, was quick to remind the “Venezuelan beauty” that she is accustomed to competitive drug testing at the highest level.
“I've been USADA tested since I was 12 years old,” Harrison tweeted. “You'll find every excuse not to fight me and the only encouragement you need from those around you is anti-nausea meds.”
