Mayra Bueno Silva is set to face Raquel Pennington for the vacant UFC bantamweight championship at UFC 297, after initially misunderstanding and preparing for a match against ex-champion Julianna Peña.
Mayra Bueno Silva is set to face Raquel Pennington in the co-main event of UFC 297. This fight is for the vacant UFC bantamweight championship. But, Silva initially misunderstood who her opponent would be.
She confessed on MMA Fighting’s Trocação Franca podcast that she was confused. When Marcos “Parrumpa” daMatta, the head coach at American Top Team, broke the news, Silva thought she’d be fighting ex-champion Julianna Peña. It took her a week to realize her actual opponent was Pennington.
Silva admitted, “At first, I thought it was Julianna. We started watching all of Julianna’s fights after dinner.” A week later, she discovered she’d be fighting Raquel. “I didn’t even think about it. I thought it was Julianna because we were planning for that, right? I was super happy, already studying for Julianna, and then, ‘No, no, no, it’s Raquel.’ I was so excited [to fight for the UFC title], I didn’t even ask who the opponent was.”
When Silva discovered her real opponent, she was “shocked”. But she said, “nothing that changes my main focus.” She admitted that Julianna would have been a more exciting fight. “Not that Raquel is a bad athlete, but Julianna promotes fights better. Raquel is not that type of person, she doesn’t talk too much. She’s the type of athlete that likes to fight, and that’s it, so I was like, ‘Damn, I’ll have to try to promote this fight on my own.’ But my total focus is the best regardless.”
Silva also expressed difficulty in promoting the fight. “It’s hard to promote this fight, because my opponent isn’t one that likes to talk too much,” she said. She wasn’t disappointed that there’s a fight after hers. “This fight disappointed me because it’s a fight not many people want to see. To me, my fight is the main event.”
From a competitive standpoint, Silva sees Pennington as a bigger challenge than Peña. Silva enters the cage after wins over Yanan Wu, Stephanie Egger, Lina Lansberg, and Holly Holm. However, her most recent victory was overturned due to a drug-test failure.
Pennington, who once challenged for the belt against Amanda Nunes, has won five in a row. Her victories were against Marion Reneau, Pannie Kianzad, Macy Chiasson, Aspen Ladd, and Ketlen Vieira.
Silva said, “The fight just got a bit tougher, because Raquel is tougher than Julianna, but it doesn’t matter because the focus is the same. Raquel is physically stronger. She’s been through ups and downs in the organization, she’s a veteran that brings more danger in the striking area than Julianna.”
Peña is expected to face the winner of Silva vs. Pennington for the title later in 2024. But Silva has a different vision. She said, “Julianna will stay injured for the rest of her career. She doesn’t want to fight. She just wants to talk. All she does is noise. I have so much fun with her. Every time she posts something about me, it’s just funny to me. I hope this fight happens, because it will fans will have so much fun. I promise to beat the crap out of her and show who’s the boss.”