Mayra Bueno Silva has made it clear that taking down Julianna Peña would be the final touch in her career’s trophy. In her recent statement, the Brazilian explained the main reason for her beef against Peña, whom she wants to have her most recent message: “Hey, Julianna, I will kill you.”
Bueno Silva will face Raquel Pennington at UFC 297 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on January 20. The two will be fighting for the vacant women’s bantamweight champion title. For Peña, however, the bout is just a “horrible interim,” and “they’re belt warming until I come back.”
Recently, Peña has shared her wish for Bueno Silva to win the bout so she could fight the Brazilian. Bueno Silva also hopes the same in order to face Peña, whom she called chicken after recalling her withdrawal in her third fight against Amanda Nunes at UFC 289. To recall, “The Venezuelan Vixen” won against Nunes in December 2021, but the latter was able to take back the victory in a rematch in July 2022.
“Look, the girl thinks she’s the champion but she’s not the champion,” Bueno Silva told MMA Hour. “Can someone please tell her she lost the last fight [against Amanda Nunes]? When she had an opportunity, she ran away from Amanda. Now she ran again. You know the toy, the chicken you squeeze and the chicken, ‘squawk squawk,’ Julianna is like that. Julianna only talks bulls***. She’s not a great fighter. She runs from every opportunity. She’s a noisy chicken.”
The feud between the two started when Peña made a negative remark about Silva and nicknamed the latter CHEATara after failing a drug test, saying the Brazilian “had to cheat in order to get it done.” Silva didn’t take this lightly, promising a future sight against Peña, whom she would not knock out easily but would punish in all five rounds. Now, Bueno Silva says it is more than that.
“When you talk about mental health, you show you’re not good people,” said Bueno Silva, who has taken ADHD meds for years. “Everyone knows I had problems with anxiety because of my mental health. When you use this to promote yourself, it’s not a good person.”
In the end, Bueno Silva stressed that facing and defeating Peña would make her feel that she really owns the belt.
“I will think about my life when I finish Julianna Peña,” Bueno Silva said. “This thing starts when I finish Julianna Peña, because my focus is on Raquel, but my belt is really my belt when I finish Julianna Peña.”
However, the Brazilian doubts Peña would really take her challenge.
“I don’t know if she wants to fight,” said Bueno Silva. “She wants to talk. She doesn’t want to fight, because she ran from Amanda and now she ran again.”
