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Julianna Pena Vs. Kayla Harrison Predictions – ‘She Looks Scary’
Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Julianna Pena takes on Kayla Harrison at UFC 316, as MMA insiders gave their predictions for this fight. 

Pena won the title after beating Raquel Pennington in her last fight at UFC 307 via a unanimous decision. That was the perfect response after she had missed out on the belt against the former champion Amanda Nunes in the fight before. The Pennington win was her third victory in her last four bouts, as she will fancy her chances.

Meanwhile, Harrison has been a revelation since her decision to sign with the UFC last year. She made her debut at UFC 300, stopping former bantamweight champion Holly Holm in impressive fashion. Harrison followed up that win by beating Ketlen Vieira, putting her in a position to secure her first-ever UFC title shot. Here is how MMA insiders saw the fight playing out. 

Predictions

“You know, Juliana is such a grinder. She’s a tough, gritty fighter. Um, she’s always in there—she’s a dog. She’s one of those ones that’s so hard to put away. And you know, Kayla is obviously one of the best in the world at what she does. She’s strong, she’s powerful, she’s—she’s big.

“But we have seen her run into some issues with fighters that will stick around, fighters that don’t go away, you know? So, um, I—I think the easy bet would be saying that Kayla’s going to get it. But honestly, I—I—I think—I think Julie might pull this one out. I think she might win it in a grinding—in a grinding fight,” John Wood

“I think Kayla Harris… Juliana Pena is another one of those ones where I’m like, how—how did you—how have you done this? You know, I don’t—I don’t… I’m going to go with Kayla. She looks—she looks scary,” Cameron Smotherman 

“I’m going to go with Harrison. She’s, uh—she’s like a unit, man. She’s just built. Um, I don’t—I don’t know if, um, Pena’s got just, like, even the physicality to just be in there with her,” Gabe Green

“Me and her [Pena] are actually buddies, so we used to go back to the Kombat America days. She was actually my commentator. We’re kind of super tight, so big fan of Juliana Pena. I got her winning for sure,” John Castaneda

“I’m going to go with Kayla Harrison. I think she’s a little bit more—maybe a little bit more cleaner—when it comes to grappling, and the striking not as, uh, as wild. But, uh, yeah, I have Kayla in that one,” Mario Bautista

Full Card

Merab Dvalishvili vs Sean O’Malley

Julianna Pena vs Kayla Harrison

Kelvin Gastelum vs Joe Pyfer

Mario Bautista vs Patchy Mix

Vicente Luque vs Kevin Holland

Kelvin Gastelum vs Joe Pyfer

Mario Bautista vs Patchy Mix

Vicente Luque vs Kevin Holland

Bruno Silva vs Joshua Van

Azamat Murzakanov vs Brendson Ribeiro

Serghei Spivac vs Waldo Cortes Acosta

Khaos Williams vs Andreas Gustafsson

MarQuel Mederos vs Mark Choinski

Ariane da Silva vs Wang Cong

Jeka Saragih vs Joo Sang Yoo

This article first appeared on BoxingNews.com and was syndicated with permission.

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