Among the UFC’s brightest young stars is hurt, and according to the company president she’s likely to be out of commission for two years. It was revealed by UFC Tonight which TUF 18 winner Julianna Pena suffered a catastrophic injury to her right knee during training that led to tears for her ACL, MCL, LCL, meniscus, and hamstring. MMAFighting.com reported that the injury occurred during a grappling session on Monday at Sikjitsu fitness center in Spokane, Washington. According to UFC president Dana White, the injury is so severe that the 24-year-old Pena is expected to miss a couple of years of actions. She is set to get surgery on the knee next week once the swelling goes down. This is very sad news and everyone in the MMA world ought to want Pena a quick recovery as she embarks on what will be a dark period in her life as she won’t be able to compete in the sport 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,”When I discovered MMA I understood it was the socket I needed and was searching for.” About fighting in the Octagon, Pena said:”This means the world to me to be more 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.” However, for the upcoming little while, she won’t have MMA in her life. Nicknamed”The Venezuelan Vixen,” Pena entered TUF 18 with a 4-2 record and has been matched up against veteran Shayna Baszler in the preliminary round after defeating Gina Mazany to enter the house. Despite being a massive underdog to Baszler, Pena managed to rally after being early to defeat Baszer via second-round entry. She then submitted Sara Moras in the semifinals to earn a birth in the finale, and she won the show this past November with a dominating first-round TKO win over Jessica Rakoczy. Currently ranked in the top 10 of the women’s bantamweight division, Pena had been set to confront Jessica Andrade in UFC 171 that March before being forced to pull out this knee injury. Andrade will 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 harm was the result of an over-aggressive training session, which seems strange given the seriousness of the injury. 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 story. There’s already speculation that this was not only an crash, but that somebody at Pena’s camp held to some submission overly long, maybe a heel hook which is highly frowned upon to do while training with teammates. That is only speculation for the time being, though, although I don’t by for a minute that this harm was only an accident based on which White’s tweet. It was considerably more inclined carelessness was the trigger. This is extremely 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 competitor for the UFC bantamweight name within the next couple of decades. Remember her beef with UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey in the show meant she’d have been pushed up the ladder quicker than others. However, this injury will obviously delay that chance to struggle for the belt, and it is possible the injury renders that dream impossible. For someone who is only 24, it’s really not fair that Pena has needed to cope with so many injuries and bad fortune as such a young age. Before TUF 18 was first filmed, Pena had been involved in a horrible car accident which left her with a broken nose. She had also suffered a broken arm in one of her struggles, as well as 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 living at home with her family. Together with her career just going to take off, Pena was looking forward to moving out and embarking on a promising career in the sport. Now, she’ll be out sitting on the sidelines for around the next 24 month after suffering among the worst knee injuries ever into a UFC fighter, and she will have difficulty making a living while doing this. I hope that the UFC assists out Pena financially through her time off since, after all, she is an investment to the company. The UFC does have an insurance plan that should cover a portion of Pena’s operation, but it’s capped at $50,000 yearly and may not cover all Pena’s medical-related expenses. So hopefully the UFC can do the right thing and help her out in her time of need. Hopefully we get the complete story about what happened to Pena soon, but for today let us all desire Pena good luck on her surgery next week and let us hope she can conquer the projected two year layoff and return in the crate earlier than later because she’s a huge fighter and has a bright future in the sport.
Read more: http://www.blackpresident.us/index.php/2019/10/07/new-orleans-pelicans/
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