UFC women’s bantamweight title challenger Mayra Bueno Silva has little faith in a former champion’s return to action.

While she prepares to take on Raquel Pennington for the division’s vacant belt at UFC 297, ‘Sheetara’ shared some thoughts on the pairing and on Julianna Pena‘s mysterious injuries which have once again sidelined the ‘Venezuelan Vixen’ at least until the summer of next year.

In an interview on MMA Fighting’s Trocacao Franca podcast, Bueno Silva explained how she was originally expecting to face Pena for the title, but was still excited when she learned her actual opponent would be Pennington.

“At first I thought it was going to be Julianna, so we started watching all of Julianna’s fights after dinner,” Silva said. “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.”

Though Bueno Silva does enjoy the Pennington pairing, she confesses that it would be more thrilling to face a former champion in Julianna Pena instead. Not because Sheetara thinks her current opponent is an inferior athlete, but because the Brazilian believes the Venezuelan Vixen knows how to promote a fight better.

“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.”

“It’s hard to promote this fight, because my opponent isn’t one that likes to talk too much,” Silva added on being the co-main event for UFC 297 under Sean Strickland vs. Dricus Du Plessis. “It didn’t disappoint me that there’s a fight after mine. This fight disappointed me because it’s a fight not many people want to see. To me, my fight is the main event.”

Still, Bueno Silva is happy to face a name she deems to actually be tougher than Julianna Pena in Pennington, which is enough motivation to get her through the change. Furthermore, she does not believe the former champion will ever be healthy enough to come back and be a top fighter again, but hopes to be proved wrong.

“The fight just got a bit tougher, because Raquel is tougher than Julianna, but it doesn’t matter because the focus is the same,” Silva said. “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.”

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

In her last outing, Mayra Bueno Silva (10-2-1 NC) saw the biggest win of her career be overturned when her submission win over former champion Holly Holm became a No Contest due to a failed test to Ritalinic acid. The result came after a three-fight win streak against Wu Yanan, Lina Lansberg and Stephanie Egger.

The 32-year-old’s last loss dates back to October 2021, when the Brazilian dropped a unanimous decision to Manon Fiorot at UFC Vegas 40.