{"id":217911,"date":"2017-01-16T09:46:54","date_gmt":"2017-01-16T17:46:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=217911"},"modified":"2017-01-16T09:47:33","modified_gmt":"2017-01-16T17:47:33","slug":"juliana-pena-fans-grateful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/julianna-pena\/juliana-pena-fans-grateful\/","title":{"rendered":"Julianna Pe\u00f1a: I hope fans are grateful that I’m fighting Shevchenko"},"content":{"rendered":"

On January 28, the UFC will return to Fox with an exciting\u00a0card. This card will be headlined by a women’s bantamweight contender bout<\/a> between TUF winner Julianna Pe\u00f1a and Kyrgyzstani striker Valentina Shevchenko.<\/p>\n

In advance of this high-stakes fight, which is likely to produce the next challenger for champion Amanda Nunes<\/a>, Pe\u00f1a says that she hopes fans are grateful that she accepted the fight, as she believes she’d already be scheduled for a title shot<\/a> if she’d opted to wait rather than stay active. Pe\u00f1a explained this feeling in an interview with BloodyElbow.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this fight is a long time coming and this is a fight that the fans have been dying for,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a fight that the fans have been chirping in my ear about nonstop and people have been telling me that I\u2019m scared to take the fight, but it has nothing to do with that and more so the fact that I felt if I wouldn\u2019t have fought, I probably would have been fighting for title anyways right now, if I would have just sat and waited. But that\u2019s not the way the cookie crumbles and unfortunately the fans wanted to see me fight one more time before I fight for the belt, so I\u2019m actually doing this fight for the fans and doing a fight which they have asked for and have requested for me for a long time now, so I hope that I make them happy and then they can be a little bit grateful for the fact I am putting it all on the line for them.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely think I\u2019ve been deserving of a title shot for a long time now and if I don\u2019t get a title shot [after beating Shevchenko] then I\u2019ll be baffled,\u201d Pe\u00f1a continued. \u201cAt the end of the day, my main focus right now, and my sole focus right now, is Valentina Shevchenko and that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Julianna Pe\u00f1a went on to give some insight as to how she expects her fight with Shevchenko to go down. Though she’s seen her upcoming foe struggle on the mat in the past, she says she expects to fight the best Shevchenko ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen her struggle in positions on the ground,\u201d stated Pe\u00f1a. \u201cLike, getting submissions and then letting them go and not really being too familiar with the finishes, but I know she\u2019s working on the ground sharpening up her ground skills so I\u2019m anticipating the best Valentina that there ever has been and that she\u2019ll be covering all her bases as far as the wrestling and jiu jitsu goes, as I have with the stand up.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Who do you think wins this upcoming Julianna Pe\u00f1a vs. Valentina Shevchenko contender bout? Sound off, PENN Nation!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On January 28, the UFC will return to Fox with an exciting\u00a0card. This card will be headlined by a women’s bantamweight contender bout between TUF winner Julianna Pe\u00f1a and Kyrgyzstani striker Valentina Shevchenko. In advance of this high-stakes fight, which is likely to produce the next challenger for champion Amanda Nunes, Pe\u00f1a says that she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":169216,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10411],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nJulianna Pe\u00f1a: I hope fans are grateful that I'm fighting Shevchenko | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UFC on Fox 23 will be headlined by a women's bantamweight contender bout between TUF winner Julianna Pe\u00f1a and Kyrgyzstani striker Valentina Shevchenko.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/julianna-pena\/juliana-pena-fans-grateful\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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