Among the UFC’s brightest young stars is injured, and as stated by the company president she is likely to be out of commission for two years. It was yesterday revealed by UFC Tonight that TUF 18 winner Julianna Pena endured a devastating injury to her right knee during training that led to tears to her ACL, MCL, LCL, meniscus, and hamstring. MMAFighting.com reported the injury happened during a grappling session on Monday at 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 a couple of decades of action. She is set to have surgery on the knee next week when the swelling goes down. This is quite sad news and everyone in the MMA world ought to wish Pena a quick recovery as she embarks on what will be a dark period in her life as she will not be able to compete in the sport she enjoys just at the time she had been beginning to get really good at it. According to her official biography on UFC.com,” Pena said,”When I discovered MMA I realized it was the outlet I needed and was looking for.” About battling in the Octagon, Pena said:”This means the world to me to be more fighting in the UFC. This is as large as it gets, it doesn’t get any higher, and I’ve made it. It’s a great achievement for myself.” But for the upcoming little while, she will not have MMA in her entire life. Nicknamed”The Venezuelan Vixen,” Pena entered TUF 18 with a 4-2 record and was matched up against veteran Shayna Baszler in the preliminary round after defeating Gina Mazany to go into the home. Despite being a large underdog to Baszler, Pena managed to rally after being early to conquer Baszer through second-round entry. She then submitted Sara Moras from 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 face Jessica Andrade at UFC 171 this March before being forced to pull out with this knee injury. Andrade will face Raquel Pennington. UFC Tonight’s Ariel Helwani was able to talk to Pena’s trainer at Sikjitsu, Rick Little, who said the harm Pena suffered was the”most gruesome” he had ever seen in sports. According to Little, Pena’s harm was the result of an over-aggressive training session, which seems strange given the seriousness of the accident. According to White’s tweet that”what happened at her gym is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever heard,” there’s obviously more to the story. There is already speculation that this was not only an crash, but that somebody in Pena’s camp held to a submission overly long, possibly a heel hook which is highly frowned upon to do while training with teammates. That is only speculation for now, though, although I don’t by for a moment that this harm was just an accident based on what White’s tweet. It was much more inclined carelessness was the cause. This is extremely disappointing news as I believe Pena was a future title contender from 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 couple of decades. Keep in mind her beef with UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey in the show meant she’d have been pushed up the ladder quicker than many others. But this harm will obviously delay that opportunity to fight for the belt, and it is possible that the injury renders that fantasy hopeless. For somebody who’s only 24, it’s really not reasonable that Pena has needed to cope with all these injuries and bad luck as such a young age. Before TUF 18 was filmed, Pena had been involved in a nasty car accident which left her with a broken nose. She had also suffered a broken arm one of her fights, in addition to the previous two ACL tears before in her career. But that’s life, and life is not fair. Pena was employed as a waitress before TUF and living at home with her loved ones. Together with her career just going to take off, Pena had been looking forward to moving out and embarking on a promising career in the sport. Now, she will be outside sitting on the sidelines for around the next 24 month after enduring among the worst knee injuries ever to a UFC fighter, and she will have difficulty making a living while doing so. I am hoping the UFC helps out Pena financially through her off time because, after all, she is an investment for the company. The UFC does have an insurance plan which should pay part of Pena’s surgery, but it is capped at $50,000 annually and may not cover most of Pena’s medical-related expenses. So the UFC can do exactly the perfect thing and help her out in her time of need. Hopefully we get the complete story about what happened to Pena shortly, but for now let us all wish Pena good luck on her surgery next week and let us hope she is able to beat the projected two year layoff and get back into the crate sooner than later because she’s a huge fighter and has a bright future in the game.
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