According to Dana White, Julianna Pena the female MMA fighter’s male teammate “assaulted” her on the gym!
Bad news for the “Venezuelan Vixen” fans as she is sidelined with a leg injury that will keep her out action for 2 years.
It was reported that The Ultimate Fighter 18 women’s bantamweight winner Julianna Pena had suffered a knee injury while training for her upcoming fight against Jessica Andrade at UFC 171.
Dana White tweeted “What happened to @VenzuelanVixen is the most disgusting thing I have ever heard. Ranked #10 and out 2 years. #leavethatgymnow.”
Though the extent of the injury was portrayed as devastating (a torn ACL, MCL, LCL and meniscus) it was still unknown what had actually happened at Sik-Jitsu Fighting Systems, where Julianna Pena trains MMA in. Dana White was asked about the nature of the injury, and how it occurred, during the UFC 169 media day.
“The worst knee injury I’ve ever heard of, ever, in the sport,” White stated. “You hear about those type of injuries in football. Apparently, when she came into the gym – and again, she was hysterical crying when I talked to her – she just won The Ultimate Fighter, she’s ranked #10 in the world, and she was training in her gym and one of her training partners, a guy, was saying to her, ’Oh, you’re wearing your Ultimate Fighter shirt. We’re real scared.’ This, that and talking smack to her, then basically attacked her. Jumped on her back, started cranking her neck, and the way that she fell her knee blew out.
“The most disgusting thing I’ve ever heard in my life. A year-and-a-half to two years she’ll be out. I told her, ‘Leave that disgusting gym and go somewhere else with new coaches, new training partners, whatever.’ And that’s all I know. I don’t know who it was. It was a guy, though – basically attacked her and blew her knee out.”
Although fellow TUF winner Michael Chiesa also trains out of the Spokane, Washington facility, White claims Pena should have received star treatment from the little-known team.
“What kind of a camp is that?” a baffled White asked. “She should be a priority in that gym. And normally, in these MMA gyms you don’t see egotistical freaks like that. That’s some Podunk, bottom-feeder stuff right there.”
Where the tale takes a twist is when Pena’s coach explains his side of the story. Rick Little presented the situation as though an overzealous Pena jumped right into an “over-aggressive training session” without the proper warmup.
“That’s so far from the story she told me right after it happened when she was hysterical and crying,” White rebuffed. “That’s a completely different story from what she told me. Somewhere in the middle lies the truth.”
White clearly ain’t buying what Little is selling. And if White gets his way, Pena will hightail it out of Podunk.
Agencies/Canadajournal