Julianna Peña coach Mike Valle cautions Kayla Harrison about UFC champ’s ‘unbreakable will’

Kayla Harrison and a big portion of the MMA group appear to imagine it’s an inevitability that she is going to defeat Julianna Pena to say the UFC girls’s bantamweight title.

Not so quick.

Peña (11-5 MMA, 8-3 UFC) recaptured the championship this month at UFC 307 with a split decision over Raquel Pennington in Salt Lake Metropolis. Earlier that evening, two-time Olympic gold medalist Harrison (18-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) seemingly punched her ticket to a crack at gold with a victory over Ketlen Vieira.

Though Peña largely ignored Harrison (18-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) within the aftermath of the occasion and mentioned she was “not impressed” by the efficiency whereas subsequently calling for Amanda Nunes to come back out of retirement for a trilogy, all indicators level to the showdown with Harrison being subsequent.

Peña’s coach, Mike Valle from VFS Academy in Chicago, mentioned his athlete can be prepared whether it is certainly Harrison. He doesn’t share the identical unfavourable slant of the two-time PFL season winner as Peña, however he does assume Harrison is in for a impolite awakening if she thinks it will likely be simple to grab the belt.

“I can’t say that we weren’t impressed,” Valle informed MMA Junkie on Friday. “She’s an excellent fighter. She’s excellent in sure areas. It’s nothing that the world hasn’t seen. It’s not nothing we are able to’t come on high of. She’s good. However Julianna is sweet, too. While you get her in entrance of you, you understand how good she is. That’s what makes it very fascinating. At any time when Harrison sees Julianna in entrance of her, she’s going to be like, ‘Oh my God. This woman is method higher than what I feel.’ And he or she’s going to be in tons of bother. That’s what it’s. That’s what makes the battle so fascinating. All respect to her and her crew. I’ve by no means disrespected her or her crew. However I simply can’t wait. In the event that they signal a contact, we’ll go to work.”

Valle has heard all of it earlier than in terms of Peña. She’s not expert sufficient. Not athletic sufficient. Not highly effective sufficient. Not harmful sufficient. The criticisms will be infinite on this business, however Valle is aware of higher than anybody what he has with “The Venezuelan Vixen” and is completely satisfied to let anybody proceed to underestimate her.

“While you get that feeling, and you’ve got somebody throughout from you that’s not simply going to battle with expertise – we’re going to battle with a number of will,” Valle mentioned. “An unbreakable will. That claims one thing to an individual. I feel that’s what it’s. … You may even see the abilities and go, ‘OK, she lacks right here and right here.’ That’s fantastic. When you will have her in entrance of you, you’re going to see how good she is. Then, on high of that, her will to push, will to go ahead and to push. To have her on high of you or in your face all evening, it says loads about an athlete.”

Finally, Valle mentioned he is aware of Peña’s largest fights and hardest exams are on the horizon. Whether or not it’s the matchup with Harrison, a trilogy with Nunes or each in successive trend, Valle is worked up to dive into the problem of recreation planning and discovering a method for Peña to come back out on high.

“Each of these fights symbolize one thing very fascinating in their very own method. I feel a battle with Amanda could be nice, but when it’s Harrison, cracking her goes to be – folks assume she’s invincible and simply going on the market and Julianna placing her stamp on it, I feel it might be an excellent assertion. From there, Amanda hopefully comes out of retirement. All three ladies are superb and it’s very fascinating for MMA followers. Whichever one occurs goes to be an excellent battle.”

For extra on the cardboard, go to MMA Junkie’s occasion hub for UFC 307.