Two-time 135-pound champion Pena puts her title on the line against Kayla Harrison in the co-main event in Newark, New Jersey on Saturday night, and admitted that she feels disrespected after the bookies’ odds have her as a huge betting outsider.
“I was told to me that I’m a 6/1 underdog, and being a 6/1 underdog as a champion is very disrespectful, number one,” she told reporters during her media day session this week.
“Number two, everybody’s counting me out. You know, out of six people, only one of them thinks that I’m going to win the fight, and that is putting me in a position where, since you think I’m going to lose in five seconds, and you think that I’m already out of this fight, then then I have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
“I’m obsessed with the process, not so much concerned about the outcome. I’m enjoying the process and obsessed with enjoying the process.”
While Pena is staying focused on her routines and preparations ahead of fight night, she said the burden of expectation will weigh heavy on Harrison’s shoulders. The two-time Olympic judo champion and former PFL women’s lightweight champion is bidding to capture UFC gold for the first time, and with so many people picking her to get the job done on Saturday night, that expectation could start to affect her, Pena said.
“She is in a position where ‘she has to’, and ‘she should,’ and ‘you better,’ and ‘it’s already done'” Pena explained.
“And so those are the kinds of limits that she’s putting on herself, of a, ‘you should,’ and ‘you can’, and ‘you will’, and ‘you’re going to,’ and ‘it’s already finished,’ and ‘it’s already happened.’
“The reality is that when you put that much pressure on yourself, and when you’re so focused on having to beat her in 10 seconds, and it doesn’t happen, that can kind of play into your mentality, in the way that you fight, whereas everybody’s already counting me out. So when you put me in a position of nothing to lose and everything to gain, that makes me a very dangerous woman.”
One of the other major talking points ahead of fight night is regarding whether Harrison will have any issues making championship weight. She won her Olympic gold medals at 78 kg (172 pounds), and captured her PFL world title at 155 pounds.
With the UFC scrapping its women’s 145-pound class, it meant that Harrison had to get down to 135 pounds to compete at bantamweight in the Octagon. She’s fought twice at the weight class so far in the UFC, and used the one pound leeway to make weight at 136 pounds for her wins over Holly Holm and Ketlen Vieira.
But that one pound leeway doesn’t apply to title fights, meaning Harrison and Pena both need to hit 135 pounds or under to ensure their title fight is official for Saturday night.
Pena said she has no worries about Harrison making weight, but did hint that her opponent’s ability to do so, then fight at full pelt for five, five-minute rounds, could prove to be a major challenge.
“It’s not a concern. I know that she’s going to make weight,” said Pena.
“She’s a professional, and she’s going to come in at 135.0, come hell or high water.
“With that being said, this is going to be her first test at 135 pounds for five minutes, for five rounds. That’s 25 minutes of fighting. So I think that’s going to be more of the concern.”
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