MMA ODDS AND ENDS FOR THURSDAY: JULIANNA PENA OUT FOR TWO YEARS FOLLOWING CATASTROPHIC KNEE INJURY

Among the UFC’s brightest young stars is injured, and as stated by the company president she’s likely to be out of commission for a couple of decades. It was revealed by UFC Tonight that TUF 18 winner Julianna Pena suffered a catastrophic injury to her right knee during training that resulted in tears for her ACL, MCL, LCL, meniscus, and hamstring. MMAFighting.com reported the injury occurred during a grappling session on Monday at Sikjitsu gym in Spokane, Washington. In accordance with UFC president Dana White, the injury is so severe that the 24-year-old Pena is expected to miss two decades of actions. She’s set to have surgery on the knee following week when the swelling goes down. This is very sad news and everybody in the MMA world ought to wish Pena a quick recovery because she embarks on what is going to be a dark period in her life as she will not be able to compete at the game she enjoys just at the time she had been starting to get great at it. According to her official biography on UFC.com,” Pena said,”When I found MMA I understood it was the socket I needed and was looking for.” About battling in the Octagon, Pena stated:”It means the world to me to be more fighting in the UFC. This is as large as it’s, it doesn’t get any higher, and I’ve made it. It’s a great achievement for myself.” But for the upcoming time, she will not have MMA within her life. Nicknamed”The Venezuelan Vixen,” Pena entered TUF 18 with a 4-2 record and was paired up against veteran Shayna Baszler in the preliminary round after defeating Gina Mazany to go into the house. Despite being a massive underdog to Baszler, Pena managed to rally after being early to defeat Baszer via second-round entry. She subsequently submitted Sara Moras from the semifinals to earn a birth in the finale, and she won the show last November with a dominating first-round TKO win over Jessica Rakoczy. Currently ranked in the top 10 of those women’s bantamweight division, Pena was set to confront Jessica Andrade at UFC 171 that March prior to 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 injury Pena suffered was the”most grisly” he’d ever seen in sports. According to Little, Pena’s harm was the consequence of an over-aggressive training session, which seems strange given the severity 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 more to the narrative. There’s already speculation that this wasn’t only an crash, but that somebody in Pena’s camp held on to some submission overly long, possibly a heel hook which is highly frowned upon to perform while training with teammates. That is just speculation for the time being, however, though I really don’t by for a moment that this harm was only an accident based on what White’s tweet. It was considerably more likely carelessness was the trigger. This is very disappointing news as I think Pena was a future title contender in the UFC women’s bantamweight division. Pena’s wrestling is exceptional and she is improving her entire game so quickly that she would be a serious competitor for the UFC bantamweight name within the next two years. Keep in mind her beef with UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey in the series supposed she would have been pushed up the ladder faster than others. However, this harm will clearly delay that opportunity to struggle for the belt, and it is possible the injury renders that dream impossible. For somebody who’s only 24, it is really not reasonable that Pena has needed to cope with so many injuries and bad fortune as such a young age. Before TUF 18 was filmed, Pena was involved in a nasty car accident which left her with a broken nose. She had also suffered a broken arm in one of her fights, as well as the preceding 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 had been looking forward to moving out and embarking on a promising career in the sport. Now, she will be outside sitting on the sidelines for up to another 24 month after enduring among the worst knee injuries ever to a UFC fighter, and she will have trouble making a living while doing this. I am hoping the UFC assists out Pena financially through her off time because, after all, she is an investment to the company. The UFC does have an insurance plan which should cover part of Pena’s operation, but it’s capped at $50,000 annually and might not cover most of Pena’s medical-related costs. So hopefully the UFC can do the right thing and help her out in her time of need. Hopefully we get the full story about what happened to Pena soon, but for now let us all wish Pena good luck on her operation next week and let’s hope she can beat the projected two year layoff and return into the cage sooner than later because she’s a tremendous fighter and has a bright future in the sport.

Read more: http://www.gastrocular.es/magical-effort-at-leopardstown/