Among the UFC’s brightest young stars is hurt, and as stated by the company president she’s going to be out of commission for a couple of years. It was revealed by UFC Tonight which TUF 18 winner Julianna Pena endured a devastating injury to her right knee during training that resulted in tears for her ACL, MCL, LCL, meniscus, and hamstring. MMAFighting.com reported that the injury occurred during a grappling session 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 action. She is set to get surgery on the knee following week once the swelling goes down. This is quite sad news and everybody in the MMA world should want Pena a speedy recovery as she embarks on what is going to be a dark period in her life as she will not have the ability to compete in the sport she enjoys just at the time she had been starting to get really good at it. According to her official biography on UFC.com, Pena said,”After I discovered MMA I understood it was the socket I needed and was searching for.” About fighting in the Octagon, Pena said:”This means the world for me to be more fighting in the UFC. This is as high as it gets, it will not get any higher, and I’ve made it. It’s a fantastic achievement for myself.” But for the next little while, she won’t have MMA in her entire life. Nicknamed”The Venezuelan Vixen,” Pena entered TUF 18 with a 4-2 record and was matched up against veteran Shayna Baszler in the preliminary round after beating Gina Mazany to enter the home. Despite being a massive underdog to Baszler, Pena was able to rally after being early to defeat Baszer through second-round submission. She then submitted Sara Moras in 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 the women’s bantamweight division, Pena had been set to face Jessica Andrade in UFC 171 this March before being forced to pull out with this knee injury. Andrade will now face Raquel Pennington. UFC Tonight’s Ariel Helwani was able to speak to Pena’s coach at Sikjitsu, Rick Little, who said the harm Pena endured was the”most gruesome” he’d ever seen in sports. According to Little, Pena’s injury was the consequence of an over-aggressive training session, which seems strange given the severity of the accident. Based on White’s tweet that”what happened at her gym is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever noticed,” there’s obviously more to the story. There’s already speculation that this wasn’t just an accident, but that someone at Pena’s camp held to some entry too long, possibly a heel hook that’s highly frowned upon to perform while training with teammates. That is only speculation for the time being, however, though I don’t by for a minute that this harm was just an accident based on what White’s tweet. It was considerably more inclined carelessness was the trigger. This is very disappointing news as I think Pena was a upcoming title contender in the UFC women’s bantamweight division. Pena’s wrestling is exceptional and she is improving her overall game so quickly that she’d be a serious competitor for the UFC bantamweight name within the next couple of decades. Keep in mind her beef with UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey in the series meant she’d have been pushed up the ladder quicker than many others. However, this injury will clearly delay that opportunity to fight for the belt, and it is possible that the injury renders that fantasy impossible. For somebody who’s only 24, it’s really not fair that Pena has had to cope with so many injuries and bad fortune as such a young age. Before TUF 18 was first filmed, Pena had been involved in a nasty car accident which left her with a busted nose. She had also suffered a broken arm one of her struggles, as well as the previous two ACL tears before in her career. But that’s life, and life is not fair. Pena was employed as a waitress before TUF and also living at home with her family. Together with her career just about to take off, Pena was looking forward to moving out and embarking on a promising career in the sport. Now, she’ll be out sitting on the sidelines for up to another 24 month after suffering one of the worst knee injuries ever into a UFC fighter, and she’ll have difficulty making a living while doing this. I am hoping that the UFC assists out Pena financially during her off time since, after all, she is an investment to the company. The UFC does have an insurance policy that should pay part of Pena’s operation, but it’s capped at $50,000 annually and might not cover most Pena’s medical-related costs. So hopefully the UFC can do the right thing and help her out in her time of need. We get the complete story about what happened to Pena shortly, but for today let’s all desire Pena great luck on her surgery next week and let’s hope she is able to beat the projected two year layoff and return into the cage earlier than later because she is a huge fighter and has a bright future in the sport.

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