Among the UFC’s brightest young stars is hurt, and according to the company president she is likely to be out of commission for a couple of decades. It was yesterday revealed by UFC Tonight which TUF 18 winner Julianna Pena suffered a catastrophic injury to her right knee during training that resulted in tears for her ACL, MCL, LCL, meniscus, and hamstring. MMAFighting.com reported the injury occurred during a grappling session on Monday in Sikjitsu gym in Spokane, Washington. In accordance with UFC president Dana White, the injury is so severe that the 24-year-old Pena is expected to miss two decades of actions. She is set to get surgery on the knee following week once the swelling goes down. This is quite sad news and everyone in the MMA world ought to want Pena a speedy recovery as she embarks on what is going to be a dark period in her life as she won’t have the ability to compete in the game she enjoys just at the time she was starting to get really good at it. According to her official biography on UFC.com,“ Pena said,“After I found MMA I understood it was the outlet I needed and was looking for.“ About fighting in the Octagon, Pena said:“This means the world for me to be fighting in the UFC. This is as high as it gets, it doesn’t get any higher, and I’ve made it. It is a great accomplishment for myself.“ But for the upcoming time, she will not have MMA in her life. Nicknamed“The Venezuelan Vixen,“ Pena entered TUF 18 with a 4-2 record and was paired up against veteran Shayna Baszler from the preliminary round after beating Gina Mazany to go into the home. Despite being a large underdog to Baszler, Pena managed to rally after being early to conquer Baszer via second-round entry. She subsequently submitted Sara Moras in the semifinals to earn a birth in the finale, and she won the show last November with a dominating first-round TKO win over Jessica Rakoczy. Currently ranked in the top 10 of those women’s bantamweight division, Pena had been set to confront Jessica Andrade at UFC 171 that March before being forced to pull out with this knee injury. Andrade will now face Raquel Pennington. UFC Tonight’s Ariel Helwani was able to talk to Pena’s coach at Sikjitsu, Rick Little, who said the harm Pena endured was the“most grisly“ he’d ever seen in sports. According to Little, Pena’s injury was the result of an over-aggressive training session, which seems odd given the seriousness of the accident. Based on White’s tweet which“what happened at her gym is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever noticed,“ there’s obviously much more to the narrative. There is already speculation that this was not just an crash, but that somebody at Pena’s camp held to a entry too long, maybe a heel hook that’s highly frowned upon to do while training with teammates. That’s only speculation for the time being, though, although I don’t by for a moment that this injury was just an accident based on what White’s tweet. It was considerably more likely carelessness was the trigger. This is very disappointing news as I believe Pena was a future title contender in the UFC women’s bantamweight division. Pena’s wrestling is excellent and she’s improving her overall game so quickly that she’d be a serious contender for the UFC bantamweight title within the next two decades. Remember her beef with UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey from the show meant she’d have been pushed up the ladder quicker than many others. However, this harm will obviously delay that opportunity to struggle for the belt, and it’s possible that the injury renders that fantasy hopeless. For somebody who’s just 24, it is not reasonable that Pena has needed to deal with so many injuries and bad fortune as such a young age. Before TUF 18 was filmed, Pena had been involved in a nasty car accident that left her with a busted nose. She had suffered a broken arm in one of her fights, in addition to the previous two ACL tears earlier in her career. But that is life, and life isn’t fair. Pena was employed as a waitress before TUF and also living in the home with her loved ones. With her career just about to take off, Pena had been anticipating moving out and embarking on a promising career in the sport. Now, she’ll be outside sitting on the sidelines for around another 24 month after enduring one of the worst knee injuries ever to a UFC fighter, and she’ll have trouble making a living while doing this. I am hoping that the UFC helps out Pena financially during her off time because, after all, she is an investment for the corporation. The UFC does have an insurance plan that should cover part of Pena’s surgery, but it is capped at $50,000 annually and may not cover all Pena’s medical-related costs. So hopefully the UFC can do the right thing and help her out in her time of need. Hopefully we get the full story about what happened to Pena soon, but for now let’s all desire Pena great luck on her operation next week and let’s hope she can conquer the estimated two year layoff and return into the crate earlier than later because she is a huge fighter and has a bright future in the game.
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