Julianna Pena will return to the UFC for the first time in two-and-a-half years against Nicco Montano at UFC Fight Night 155 on July 13th in Sacramento, California as a replacement for Sara McMann, who had to withdraw from the fight due to an injury.
A former TUF winner, Pena had to take a break from the UFC in 2017 after becoming pregnant with her first child, and after giving birth to her daughter in January of last year, she’s continued to stay out of the cage for an extended period.
Pena’s last Octagon outing was back in January of 2017 when she lost by submission to Valentina Shevchenko.
Prior to that Pena had been on a four-fight winning streak that had included wins over the likes of Jessica Eye and Cat Zingano.
Now she’ll look to make a comeback against former flyweight champion Montano, who like Pena is a former winner of The Ultimate Fighter reality show.
After unexpectedly winning the TUF 26 flyweight tournament by defeating Roxanne Modafferi in the final, Montano was crowned the inaugural champion of the weight class, but she was then stripped of the belt after a botched weight cut prior to her first title defense against Shevchenko last year.
Pena Vs Montano joins a UFC Fight Night 155 card that will be headlined by a women’s bantamweight fight between Germaine de Randamie and Aspen Ladd as well as the return of Urijah Faber against Ricky Simon.
