Mayra Bueno Silva Would Have Preferred to Face Julianna Pena at UFC 297

Mayra Bueno Silva and Raquel Pennington will square off at UFC 297 for the women’s bantamweight crown, which was left vacant when Amanda Nunes retired in June.

Silva was so excited when she heard the announcement that she was initially confused about her opponent, as she at first thought she would be facing former champ Julianna Pena at the Jan. 20 event.

“At first I thought it was going to be Julianna, so we started watching all of Julianna’s fights after dinner,” Silva recently told MMAFighting.com. “A week later, I found out it was against 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.”

While Silva would have preferred Pena as an opponent for marquee value, she believes Pennington will be the tougher fight.

“Like it or not, Julianna would be more exciting as a fight,” Silva said. “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.

“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.”

Pena pulled out of a trilogy clash against Nunes in June and couldn’t recover in time for the UFC 297 title fight. The former champ has dismissed the Silva vs. Pennington as an “interim” clash and expects to fight for the title on her return. However, Silva isn’t so sure.

“Julianna will stay injured for the rest of her career,” Silva said. “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.”