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Julianna Peña is in her moment reign as UFC ladies’s bantamweight champion. In profitable 3 of her previous 4 fights, she has crushed two different champs. That’s the type of résumé that are supposed to situate a fighter on most sensible of the arena. And but the MMA global continues to bargain Peña.
She defends her belt Saturday at UFC 316 in Newark, New Jersey (ESPN+ PPV, 10 p.m. ET), and regardless of her opponent, Kayla Harrison, being a relative newcomer who has been slightly examined on the game’s best possible degree, Peña would be the one going into the combat as a large making a bet underdog.
So what else is new?
For Peña, being lost sight of is her existence tale. Growing up in Spokane, Washington, because the youngest of 4 youngsters, she was once a typical goal of her older brother’s roughhousing. “He was a gigantic WWE fan, and he beat the snot out of me and my two older sisters,” Peña advised ESPN, including with a grin, “I was his favorite, because I would never cry, and, even though he was so much bigger and stronger than me, I kept attacking him with everything I had.”
Persevering via combat royals with an Andre the Giant wannabe fell proper in step with her upbringing by way of a mom decided to instill toughness in her youngest.
“She used to tell me, ‘You will stand up for yourself,'” Peña recalled. “My mom put that spirit inside of me, of never backing down.”
This will probably be Peña’s fourth consecutive combat as an underdog. Most famously, she overcame the fourth-longest odds in UFC identify combat historical past to publish Amanda Nunes. She misplaced the 2022 rematch seven months later, however remaining October she recaptured the identify by way of dethroning Raquel Pennington, who was once preferred of their combat by way of just about 2-to-1 odds.
How lengthy has it been since Peña walked into the cage as a favourite? It remaining took place long ago in 2021, when she defeated Sara McMann at UFC 257. The headliner that evening was once a long-inactive fellow by way of the identify of Conor McGregor. Remember him?
Peña had to conquer stumbling blocks on her solution to the massive display. She was once on a two-fight dropping streak at the regional scene in 2013 when she was once forged on Season 18 of the UFC’s truth TV display, “The Ultimate Fighter,” but she received the display and a UFC contract beneath the training of her good friend and coaching spouse Miesha Tate. The opposing workforce’s trainer was once Tate’s sour rival, dominant champ Ronda Rousey, and the warmth between them spilled over to the warring parties. That animosity drew Peña all of the solution to Australia a pair years later to root towards “Rowdy Ronda” in a identify combat with Holly Holm that was once extensively anticipated to be a mismatch. “I was front row, cheering Holly on, giving her all my energy,” Peña recalled. “When they entered the Octagon, I remember [Holm] pacing back and forth in her corner. And I stood up at my seat and was pointing to her, yelling, ‘You got this! You can do this!'”
As it grew to become out, after all, Holm may do it. As an inconceivable +870 underdog, she picked aside, pissed off and bloodied Rousey on how you can a vicious second-round knockout.
“I was beyond ecstatic to see Holly do that. It was so inspiring to see,” Peña mentioned. “The things I took away from that fight were that the whole world can count you out, but as long as you have belief in yourself, you’re capable of anything. And that nobody is invincible.”
Both takeaways got here in to hand for Peña years later when she was once making ready to problem Nunes. The second her rear-naked choke vanquished the champ, the surprised crowd went eerily quiet, and Peña discovered one thing else about herself.
“I find the sound of silence beautiful,” she mentioned. “When you’re an underdog, it’s just an opportunity to silence everybody who doubted you. There’s nothing better.” When Peña steps into the cage with Harrison this weekend, she will probably be in search of to silence her doubters another time. As of Wednesday, Peña is a +500 underdog, consistent with ESPN BET. Can she most sensible any of the notable UFC shockers of the previous? Here’s one observer’s rating of essentially the most impactful identify combat upsets.
The final odds indexed beneath have been sourced from ESPN’s UFC database.
1:22
Valentina Shevchenko wins again ladies’s UFC flyweight identify at UFC 306
Valentina Shevchenko defeats Alexa Grasso within the co-main tournament of UFC 306 to achieve again her ladies’s UFC flyweight identify.
10. Alexa Grasso (+600) defeats Valentina Shevchenko by way of fourth-round submission
UFC 285, March 4, 2023
During her 4 years as ladies’s flyweight champion or even ahead of, Shevchenko had given lovers reason why to consider she was once invincible in fights towards mere mortals. The handiest two losses in her 14-fight UFC profession to that time had come towards Nunes, and they would took place up within the GOAT’s 135-pound weight elegance, no longer down in Shevchenko’s 125-pound elegance. Among Shevchenko’s maximum fight-deciding guns had at all times been her kicks, and in this evening she unleashed person who necessarily ended the bout — and her identify reign. Late in Round 4 of a combat she was once profitable at the scorecards, Shevchenko spun for a frame kick nevertheless it overlooked, leaving her again uncovered. Grasso grabbed hang and temporarily secured a rear-naked choke to tug off the disappointed.
9. Amanda Nunes (+220) defeats Cris Cyborg by way of first-round knockout
UFC 232, Dec. 29, 2018
Cyborg was once no stranger to fast finishes. To this level in her profession, part of her victories had led to Round 1. She was once a one-woman wrecking workforce. But in this evening, she was once the only getting wrecked … and temporarily. The two champions — Cyborg at featherweight, Nunes at bantamweight — each got here out swinging, and the speedier Nunes time and again beat her larger opponent to the punch. One knockdown. Two. Three. Four. It was once over in 51 seconds, making Nunes one in all simply 4 UFC warring parties to be a champ in two divisions concurrently.
1:14
Flashback: Michael Bisping wins middleweight gold with KO of Luke Rockhold
Turn again the clock to UFC 199 when Michael Bisping surprised the MMA global and beat Luke Rockhold in Round 1 to win UFC gold.
8. Michael Bisping (+400) defeats Luke Rockhold by way of first-round KO
UFC 199, June 4, 2016 (watch the combat on ESPN+)
Just 18 months ahead of this combat, Rockhold had indignantly completed Bisping with a guillotine choke — the usage of only one arm. No one was once begging to look extra of that, however there the UFC was once, 10 days ahead of a pay-per-view leading tournament and wanting a alternative opponent for then-UFC middleweight champion Rockhold after former champion Chris Weidman was once compelled out on account of harm. The name went out to Bisping. Did Rockhold take him calmly within the rematch? The champ held his fingers defiantly low and regarded torpid from begin to end. And what a brutal end it was once, with Bisping clipping his sour rival with a left hook and gleefully completing him at the canvas.
7. Frankie Edgar (+620) defeats BJ Penn by way of unanimous choice
UFC 112, April 10, 2010
There was once a time when Penn was once extensively regarded as the gold usual of MMA. A two-division UFC champion, he had made a profession of combating larger males, together with champions Georges St-Pierre, Matt Hughes and Lyoto Machida. Edgar, alternatively, lacked that golden pedigree and was once small for a light-weight, however he established himself because the little engine that might towards Penn. He outworked “The Prodigy” on his solution to a unanimous choice, even though the combat was once so shut that the UFC booked a rematch 4 months later. Edgar received that one, too, later writing for ESPN, “Going into the first fight, I believed I could beat BJ. I didn’t know, but I believed. Going into the second fight, I knew I could. I think that’s why the gap between us was a lot bigger the second time.”
6. Henry Cejudo (+400) defeats Demetrious Johnson by way of break up choice
UFC 227, Aug. 4, 2018 (watch the combat on ESPN+)
“Mighty Mouse” had received 13 fights in a row, together with a listing 11 defenses of the lads’s flyweight identify, going into his rematch with Cejudo, whom he knocked out within the first around two years previous. So this turnaround was once a shocker. It may have gave the impression upper in those scores if the combat hadn’t been scored a break up choice that many observers idea must have long gone Johnson’s manner. Instead, the win set Cejudo on a trail towards glory, as within the uncommon and coveted champ-champ standing.
5. Julianna Peña (+650) defeats Amanda Nunes by way of second-round submission
UFC 269, Dec. 11, 2021
Yes, “The Venezuelan Vixen” merits a place a few of the most sensible 5 of identify combat upsets. She beat the GOAT at a time when Nunes was once champion of 2 weight categories and had received 12 fights in a row. Peña entered the combat simply 10-4 as a professional and 2-2 in her most up-to-date 4 bouts. Where was once her trail to victory? No one may in finding one — excluding Peña herself. “I have a supreme belief in myself, because I know how much passion and dedication I have for this sport,” she mentioned. “Me beating Amanda that night just came down to pure belief and hard work.”
4. Chris Weidman (+200) defeats Anderson Silva by way of second-round KO
UFC 162, July 6, 2013 (watch the combat on ESPN+)
Silva had owned the middleweight championship for seven years — a UFC-record reign of 2,457 days. Along with making 10 identify defenses, he had even taken a number of bouts at gentle heavyweight, extending his profitable streak to 16 in a row, essentially the most consecutive victories in UFC historical past. “The Spider” was once no longer merely beating everybody, he was once making them appear to be fools. Silva toyed with Weidman, too, early on this combat. But the challenger was once undeterred. He stored shifting ahead, at the same time as Silva refrained from the whole lot he threw. When Weidman overlooked with a proper hand early in the second one around and swiped his fist again towards the champ’s head, it threw off Silva’s timing for a break up moment — simply lengthy sufficient for a follow-up left hand to drop Silva and ship shockwaves in the course of the game.
3. Matt Serra (+850) defeats Georges St-Pierre by way of first-round TKO
UFC 69, April 7, 2007
This one is continuously cited as the largest identify combat disappointed in UFC historical past. That is smart at the face of it — GSP, a number one candidate for GOAT standing, dropping to a truth TV display contestant. But Serra’s season of “The Ultimate Fighter” featured a forged of warring parties with UFC enjoy. Serra had made 9 earlier Octagon appearances, together with going the space towards Penn, a former champion. And St-Pierre, making his first protection of the welterweight identify, had no longer but established his supremacy. Having mentioned all that, this nonetheless was once a stunning consequence, particularly taking into consideration how simply St-Pierre had treated Hughes to win the identify 5 months previous. Going into the combat with Serra, it gave the impression {that a} new technology was once dawning. Then, a looping proper hand by way of Serra despatched the champ crumbling, in conjunction with any expectancies.
2:44
McGregor: ‘I did say the fitting hand can be his downfall’
UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor joins SportsCenter to damage down his 13-second knockout win over Jose Aldo at UFC 194 and if he’d be prepared to provide Aldo a rematch.
2. Conor McGregor (+100) defeats. José Aldo by way of first-round KO
UFC 194, Dec. 12, 2015 (watch the combat on ESPN+)
Numerically, this one does not measure as much as the opposite presumed mismatches in this record, however canonically it represented a big turning level within the game’s trajectory. McGregor in truth opened as a slight favourite at some sportsbooks. Oddsmakers obviously have been swayed by way of the fame acclaim for McGregor and their figuring out that some devotees would lay down cash at the Irishman regardless of him by no means having been within the cage with any individual even shut in stature to Aldo, winner of 18 in a row. McGregor talked a excellent recreation, and that was once sufficient for some.
The listing displays that McGregor beat Aldo in 13 seconds. But he in truth received the combat neatly ahead of that. McGregor taunted the champ even ahead of they have been booked to combat, and the thoughts video games handiest ramped up because the combat were given nearer. During a prefight information convention, McGregor grabbed the belt from the dais and held it top, as though it have been his. By combat evening, Aldo was once furious. He got here out of his nook with uncharacteristic aggression, and in the first actual alternate, McGregor cracked the champ with a counterpunch that despatched Aldo crashing to the canvas and McGregor’s megastar energy skyrocketing. That punch, and what resulted in it, modified MMA ceaselessly.
1:11
Holm’s KO of Rousey surprised the arena
Holly Holm surprised the arena by way of knocking out Ronda Rousey at UFC 193 in entrance of over 56,000 other people in Melbourne. Order UFC 243 right here https://plus.espn.com/ufc/ppv.
1. Holly Holm (+870) defeats Ronda Rousey by way of second-round KO
UFC 193, Nov. 14, 2015 (watch the combat on ESPN+)
This was once the disappointed to upstage all upsets, even though MMA lovers of new antique may no longer view it as such a huge shocker. Looking again now, a decade later, one may bear in mind Rousey for purchasing smashed in her ultimate two fights ahead of slinking off into retirement. But previous to that, she was once the game’s maximum dominant fighter — by way of a ways. “Rowdy Ronda” entered the Holm combat at 12-0 with 12 finishes, all however one in all them coming within the first around. Rousey’s 3 fights prior to the Holm bout had led to 16, 14 and 34 seconds. No one may grasp together with her.
Then, ahead of a crowd of 56,214 at an Australian laws soccer stadium in Melbourne, Rousey bumped into Holm. She most commonly bumped into Holm’s left fist, over and over again. It was once surprising to observe the combat no longer straight away move to the mat, like several earlier Rousey fights had. It was once surprising to look the champion’s face redden and her spirit burn up. It was once surprising to look Holm’s head kick within the opening minute of Round 2 ship Rousey and her air of secrecy of invincibility crashing to the canvas.
