REMAINING FOCUSED | JULIANNA PEÑA "VENEZUELAN VIXEN"

We're very excited about this month's cover, Bantamweight Champion Julianna Peña who will be fighting Amanda Nunes in the title fight in Dallas on Jul 30th for UFC277. This anticipated rematch is one we'll be glued to and just ahead of it, we took some time to catch up with the 'Venezuelan Vixen' herself! We wanted to know about her journey in the MMA, being the first woman to win The Ultimate Fighter - Season 18, joining the UFC, being a coach on Season 30 of The Ultimate Fighter, and how she trains to be Octagon ready!

ATHLEISURE MAG: What led you to MMA and when did you fall in love with the sport?

JULIANNA PEÑA: When I was 19 years old, my sister asked me to join a women’s cardio kickboxing class with her and I needed to lose some weight, so I joined the class. It came naturally to me and I wanted to explore it more. I immediately fell in love with it. And when I eventually started winning fights, the joy combined with the rush of winning solidified my obsession for MMA.

AM: You’re known as the Venezuelan Vixen. How did you get that name?

JP: I have to credit that to my coach that gave me that name early on in my career.

AM: What did you learn about competing on The Ultimate Fighter and becoming the first woman to win in Season 18?

JP: I learned that I still had so much more to learn, and that I still do. Not only is every fighter different, every FIGHT is different. Because as I’m learning and growing, so are my competitors. It taught me to never feel as though I know everything. There is always more to learn, more room to grow, more fights to win, and more fighters to challenge ahead. Always a student of the game.

AM: Last season, you and Amanda Nunes were coaches for The Ultimate Fighter. How did it feel to be there as a coach versus competing and what does it mean to you to work with those who are coming up and to give them the tools that they need to operate at their best?

JP: It was really interesting to be a 135lb woman giving advice to male MMA fighters twice my size! It was a little strange at first because I wasn’t sure how they would take my advice when we’re in very different divisions with different disciplines. But it soon became second nature. It was exciting to see them grow but it was also difficult getting to know them, their strengths/weaknesses, and then having to see them get eliminated. It was also very interesting to coach against Amanda because I was able to get a better understanding of her approach and methods, whereas before, I had only known what it was like to be fighting against her in the cage.

AM: We always like talking about workouts that athletes do that optimize their work in the sport, what are 3 workouts that you do?

JP: I love to run. All my workouts are what I do for and in camp. But running and strength/conditioning/lifting weights are others that I do. I love to swim and do yoga if I get the time.

AM: What is a typical training session/day like for you and how is it different when you are preparing for a fight?

JP: I train 2-3 times a day except on Sundays when I’m not in camp. I train MMA a few times a week but not nearly at the pace I do while I’m at camp.

AM: When it comes to training, how important is the mental aspect of it to you and how do you strengthen that area?

JP: The mental aspect of MMA training is just as important as the physical aspect of the sport. Especially as a mother, it’s very important for me to prioritize that work/life balance. I'm constantly reminding myself to remain focused and avoid unnecessary distractions while I’m training, so that I can, not only be the best fighter, but also be the best mother I can be to my daughter.

AM: In looking at your IG, we loved seeing your daughter Isa standing with you when you were doing promos for your fight last year or even when you’re training in the gym. It reminded me of being able to watch my mom work when she owned her own couture boutique. I think it’s powerful for kids to be able to see what their parents do. How is it to balance your duties as a mom, training, being a champion fighter and also building other areas of your brand/portfolio?

JP: Thank you! That’s so incredible that you have such fond memories of your mother and that you had a role model that also struck a great balance between work and parenthood. At the end of the day, my daughter comes first. She is the greatest joy in my life. And my duty to her to be a good mother is my ultimate responsibility. She will always come first. And the rest seems to fall into place as long as I continue to stay focused and motivated. Isa will forever be my biggest win in life.

AM: If we want to eat like an MMA fighter, what are the foods you eat that assist you in being an amazing champion and what are items you enjoy splurging on?

JP: My splurge is PINKBERRY or frozen yogurt of any kind. I train so much I can virtually eat what I want but I use Eat Clean Chicago to help prep me for the week and it ranges from spaghetti to baked chicken or salmon depending on the day.

AM: You have an amazing record 12-4-0. You are fighting Amanda Nunes in Dallas for a title rematch main event for UFC 277 on July 30th. When you fought her last year, you won the Bantamweight Title. Heading into Saturday’s fight, what are the days leading up to game time like when you touch down in Dallas?

JP: I’m actually already in Dallas! I got in earlier this week. Fight week is always a bit crazy – there are media interviews, press conferences, weigh-ins, and more.

And all of that is still in addition to an even more intense training schedule. Put it this way, I can’t wait to enjoy a bit of free time and sleep next week!

AM: After a fight, what do you do as you come down from all the energy and focus that you needed in the Octagon?

JP: Other than enjoying my victory?? I enjoy time with my daughter!!! That’s the easiest way to come down from that adrenaline rush that comes with months of training. Just fun and relaxation with Isa and my family.

AM: In addition to fighting, you are also a commentator for MMA fights as well. Why is this something that you wanted to add into your portfolio and what do you like about doing this?

JP: I love to talk and I love MMA. I always want MMA to be a part of my life!

AM: Earlier this summer, you threw the 1st pitch at the White Sox/Dodgers game in Chicago! How exciting was that experience for you?

JP: That was beyond exciting! The Chicago White Sox were so welcoming and truly made it an experience I will never forget. And it’s always fun to meet the players and coaches because it makes watching the game so much more fun. If they ever want me back, I’m a phone call away!

AM: When you’re not training or prepping for a fight, how do you take time for yourself?

JP: I spend my free time with my daughter. I’m so busy all the time between training and my other endeavors so any free time I have, I spend it with her. I haven’t sat on my couch in three months. I’m looking forward to putting my feet up.

AM: With all the successes that you have had, being a champion in the UFC and being able to do what you love – what do you want your legacy to be in the sport?

JP: I would love to be remembered for my ability to bring home victories even when the odds are stacked against me; being able to have opened the doors and break barriers for other working mothers. If you believe in yourself and are determined enough, there’s no reason that you can’t have it all. I dream of being inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame one day.

IG @venezuelanvixen

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | Pillar Marketing Corporation

Read the JUL ISSUE #79 of Athleisure Mag and see REMAINING FOCUSED | Julianna Peña “Venezuelan Vixen” in mag.

THE ARTIST | TYRON WOODLEY

This month's cover is 5X UFC Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley. With an impressive career, we delve into this athlete and artist who got his start wrestling and went on to continue in this sport at the University of Missouri and are a 2x All-American and Big 12 Conference Champion. In addition to the impact that he has created in MMA, he is also an analyst. When he is not in or talking about the Octagon, Tyron has acted in a number of films and movies including Straight Outta Compton, Kickboxer: Vengence and Hawaii Five-0. He has also been involved in stunts in Olympus Has Fallen, Once Upon a Time in Venice and has trained actors such as Denzel Washington in The Equalizer 2.

We talk with him about he got into MMA, his passion for it, his creativity in entertainment, the music industry and more.

ATHLEISURE MAG: My favorite sport is boxing and through that it brought me to enjoying MMA as well. I’ve been a fan of yours for a number of years. What was the moment when you realized that you wanted to be an athlete as I know that in highschool you played football as well as wrestled. What initially drew you to wrestling as you were NCAA Division I collegiate wrestler at the University of Missouri and are a 2X All-American and Big 12 Conference Champion.

TYRON WOODLEY: I mean, just as a kid, I started off just being outside and in a regular neighborhood to play. We didn’t have a ton of funds to go on a billion vacations and trips and all those extracurricular activities and things. So it came down to racing people in the streets first, who was the fastest and who could do the most push-ups. Naturally, when it came to wrestling, I kind of gravitated towards sports that were more economical. For wrestling, you don’t need a lot of stuff for that. It’s very affordable, so I kind of started to do that and I didn’t even notice that I was doing that. I also just enjoy the difficulty of doing stuff and I don’t even know why. Especially growing up as a kid, if there was something that was difficult that I could do, it made me feel a certain kind of way and I liked it.

That’s kind of the journey that I have been towards - I don’t want to say the impossible because other people have done it, but the things that seem to be very difficult and people veer away from it, I go straight to it.

AM: So how did being a wrestler eventually merge to you focusing on being a Mixed Martial Artist?

TW: I mean when I was wrestling, I was doing that and I was also trying to out amateur MMA just to see if I liked it. I’ve always wanted to box, but I felt as if at 23 years old, which was the age that I graduated from college, I felt that I was too old to start boxing. At that age, most people that are successful have started since they were 18 or 19 years old. I felt that with Mixed Martial Arts, I could punch, wrestle and do a couple of other things too. I was giving it a try but what really crossed me over the edge was that I was the #1 wrestling coach for the top fighters. Everybody that had a big fight against wrestlers – The Ultimate Fighter show 1, 2 and 3 and really it brought a shit load of Division 1 level wrestlers into MMA Rashad Evans, Gray Maynard, Josh Koscheck – all of these different guys you’ve seen from that show. The mindset of a wrestler amongst any other martial arts was just so different – it was really kind of meat head and really a bar that was set that nobody had really done to get there. With that mindset, they became really good MMA fighters because of drilling – we drill so many moves thousands of times. We’ll do the same leg and then we’ll do a variation of it and based on his defense we do this and if he does that then we’ll do this. It made it easier because it was a mindset that we use anyway. It’s one of the few sports where we had to cut weight year around which got us ready for MMA and it was natural as I was already doing those things.

AM: When you say MMA, what disciplines are involved in that when you’re fighting and what are you looking to add to your skillset in your journey?

TW: For MMA, Mixed Martial Arts, it’s really any form of martial art excluding fish hooks, head butts, striking of the groin, kicking someone when they’re down. Outside of that, karate, judo, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, boxing, Muay Thai, kickboxing – every form of striking, every form of grappling, Sambo – all these different things, there are different places where you can use them in the Octagon. There’s a lot of Greco-Roman wrestling in judo when you’re against the cage in the area that we call “the clinch” – striking out in the open and now you don’t have to just punch – you can punch, kick, slip, roll, knee, elbow – you can pretty much use your entire body minus your forehead to fight.

You have to be up to date on what’s the new techniques, what the new training camps are learning so you know how to prepare, who you’re going against and what they bring to the table. So I just looked at my wrestling background and said, “hey, I’m going to be able to take most of these guys down,” because I’m the head coach of most of the guys that are trying to stop from being taken down. If I spend 85% of my time on striking and you can’t out strike me and you’re supposed to be a striker and you can’t out wrestle me and I can get up and be in good shape, you’re going to have a hard time defeating me. That was my formula for many, many years and it was proven, because I didn’t lose a round and I hardly lost any minutes in any round. It’s basically a game plan that I ended up using and it worked out.

AM: For those that are not familiar, what are the rules of the sport and how is someone designated the winner?

TW: The rule of the sport is that you start to fight on your feet and usually both of the fighters are in their corner and from that position, the referee will tell them that they are ready to fight. Basically, they’ll say, “let’s get it cracking, you guys get it on,” or whatever they say. These referees ref so many fights that they start having a familiar face and people are starting to associate them with their ad lib to start the fight.

You start on your feet and what you see first is mostly striking because that’s what people do when they’re on their feet - punching, kicking, knee and elbow. But anytime people get close enough, it’s allowed to grab the person, slam them down, grapple them, cement a few arm locks, chokes, pressure points or utilize your elbows. You can put somebody in a move that causes someone to submit which means that they don’t want to do that move anymore and they can’t get out of it and they submit to you or give up.

Then there’s scoring. The judges are looking throughout the rounds because sometimes it’s not finished by submission, a knockout or disqualification – they’re looking at who is the aggressor, who’s landing power; who’s persistent, who’s pressing the pace – from there, they will deem who they have seen from that round. Who won that round and then who won the next round – they look at all the rounds and add it up to decide who actually won the fight. It’s kind of confusing because the sport hit by storm and many people were not ready for it. You have to remember that there isn’t a MMA judge! It’s really a boxing commission that are judging these fights. When you look at it that way, some boxing commissioners aren’t even familiar with what they are even looking at because they are not familiar with martial arts. They don’t understand that if I’m a D1 wrestler and I’m All American and a striker and you hook me down, I would weight that more as a bigger deal than if I have to take him down. So that’s the way how I feel that it should be judged, but I’m not trying to be the judge and the fighter at the same time. I just have to let it go as it goes.

AM: That’s an interesting point that you made as I wasn’t thinking about that. Is it difficult for you knowing that as you’re going in that there are judges that aren’t into the details of your sport, but they are literally judging what you’re doing?

TW: Yeah I mean, it’s difficult, but like I told you before, I have been blessed to have some good friends. Lin Oeding (Reacher, Cobra Kai, Warrior), a fighting/stunt coordinator/performer and who is a director now, he kind of gave me his mindset because he’s good at analyzing issues that come up with good solutions. He said, “Tyron, if you train this way (in the formula that I told you), you’re going to be hard to beat.” Luckily for me, even though my background was grappling, wrestling, jiu-jitsu and the last thing that I started to do was striking, I was one of the best strikers and one of the most explosive strikers. I would use the fact that people were so scared of my ability to take them down - that it actually made them tense up a little bit. Then I would be able to sneak in and make it look like I was going to be able to take a shot when they responded to do that by lowering their hands or getting intimidated, then I would just come up and punch them in the face.

AM: You began your career in Strikeforce and you’re a 5 X UFC Welterweight Champion, can you talk about what it means to have such an amazing career of 19 wins you only have 7 losses and a draw – it’s great stats.

TW: For me, it was always to try to be the best. Everybody else wanted to participate or to just get to the UFC or to win a title. Because, when you win a title, no one can ever say that you’re not a champion – you’re a champion. But my goal wasn’t just to win 1 title, it was to be the best. By definition, the best is somebody that gets a title and defends it multiple times and makes it very difficult to be beaten and that was my motivation. I accomplished that and obviously, life has highs and lows sometimes you don’t understand how things go, but it’s not really for us to understand. I just use it as a learning curve to keep getting better and to create my legacy.

AM: What is a normal week like for you when you’re in the gym training. You must be doing the most insane workouts and spending many hours to be where you’re at!

TW: You know, I used to do that when I was younger by spending many, many hours. You need to know if you can do it. You need to see if you’re built for it because what you don’t want to do is to waste their time or to waste your time.

This ain’t a sport where you do all of this hard work and you don’t know if it’s right for you. It’s too hard and there are great chances where you can get hurt. If you find out early in your career that you strike on somebody and they hit you in the face and you didn’t like it, shit maybe it ain’t up for you. If you don’t deal with pressure well, if you’re learning curve isn’t up to par with the growth of the sport, you have to look at yourself and say, “hey, you know what – maybe I should be a coach or I should be alongside it or I should do it for leisure but not put all my ducks in a row.” Some fighters think that just because they decided that they were going to give up the rest of their life towards this that they should be a pro fighter. That’s not how it works.

AM: Can we expect to see you in an upcoming MMA fight and who would you like to fight?

TW: I want to fight big fights. I don’t want to fight any small fights. Right now I feel like, if I beat 5 - 10 super high level guys and get a world title again that don’t mean shit. That’s not going to make me anymore of a great. I had to talk to God about this. I wanted to do that. I wanted to go back and get my belt back - it's the ego. Because, that's not my belt. That’s the current person’s belt, they earned their belt and I lost my belt. They didn’t take my belt, they earned theirs. Once people start thinking about it that way, his blessings are not mine and mine is not his. So, me going back and trying to chase that down – something that I have already done is kind of ego. So I had to check myself and now I just want to fight to make myself happy, to make a lot of money and to make a big fuss and a lot of exposure and a lot of media and buildup and marketing and big endorsements – big exposure and everything is leading me towards another area of martial arts.

AM: How much influence do you have when it comes to setting up matches. Are you able to select or at least propose who you want to go against? How does that process work?

TW: In the UFC, I didn’t really get much of a say so. If I did a couple of favors and I particularly wanted to fight somebody and they felt that it made sense and they could see how that looked good marketing-wise, then it became a yes. It was always if this person that I wanted to fight, made sense for them as well, then we’d do it. If it didn’t, then there was no chance. There were many times when it didn’t make sense for me to fight in my career, that they didn’t care and they wanted that fight to happen. Right now, I’m in a different position. Today, I was offered a fight, my first question was what’s the weight, where’s it at and are we at 7 figures and up?

AM: Ok now.

TW: Yeah why wouldn’t I?

AM: It’s interesting as I’ve always been interested in how these matches come together and it’s great that you’re able to have the ability to set those standards and parameters.

Why were you interested in boxing as you have had 2 fights against Jake Paul and will you continue to box?

TW: Yeah I’m going to continue to box and I was interested in boxing before the Jake Paul fight. I told my manager that I just really wanted to focus on doing all forms of combat and becoming an actual real free agent. Not having to conform to an organization that says that I have to fight at a certain time and I’m not saying that that didn’t benefit me and I don’t have no smoke with UFC. I’m not trying to get time back. I did what I was supposed to do in the time that I was given and I created some mystery so now I’m in a position where I want big fights that excite me and makes me want to walk out there! Because, for the longest, I was doing it to prove people wrong. I felt like at certain points, I was doing it to prove naysayers wrong, the organization wrong, the fighters wrong and the haters wrong. That’s too many people to be doing that with. I’d rather focus on just proving my people right and my coaches right versus all that other stuff.

AM: You’re also an analyst and it’s always good to watch a sport and see someone who comes from it who does it being able to tell you what’s going on. What do you enjoy about being in this role?

TW: I think it’s that people get to see me in a different light. They don’t get to see the quiet or the outspoken because I’m never in between! I feel like when I needed to, I was quiet because people didn’t deserve to really get to know me for who I was because everything was just so fake to me. It was like everything was such a façade and I wasn’t used to that. In St. Louis, it’s all about respect, all about being real and I’m just not used to people doing things that everybody else is doing because it looks cool. That was really corny to me and so at times, I didn’t feel like I fit in. So the analyst desk gave me a way to express myself, to say how I see the sport, make it realistic for someone that has never watched it and just make it fun and make it where it’s a moment that they will remember and tie them into our sport. We need more fans and more supporters and the way to do that, is to tell more people about it. Sometimes, as an analyst, you’re teaching people about MMA and they don’t know about it until you tell them.

AM: Exactly, I live in NY, but am originally from Indiana so I definitely understand the sensibilities of growing up in the Midwest and then when you go outside of it, it’s a different cadence that you have to get used to.

TW: Very interesting, very interesting. If you came from Indiana to NY, you understand exactly what I’m saying. It’s fast paced, no one is really caring about anything you’re saying as they’re focused on what they need to do and in the back of their mind, they’re trying to position themselves and posture. I’m not trying to do that. If you’re cool with me, you’re cool with me – if not, you can slide.

AM: In addition to everything that you’re doing, you’re also an actor and a stuntman. I remember watching you in Straight Outta Compton and I was like, “wait, he’s acting?” I know you’ve done other roles as well, why have you embraced this portion of the entertainment industry in your body of work?

TW: I’m just an artist. I’ve said it to a lot of people and they don’t even realize it. I’m just an artist. I’m not a boxer, I’m not a fighter, I’m not a rapper, I’m not an analyst – I’m an artist. Whatever canvas I have to paint on for that day, I have to do what I have to do. So that’s why I think of it and I separate it. My filter when I had my own TMZ show was different than when I do FOX, is different then when I act. Again in acting, there are a whole lot of different roles – so I do that differently. Music is a different look and it’s just different filters that you use and sensors. Sometimes there’s no filters and it’s very encouraging for you to be 100% yourself. But they all exist because you're an artist.

So, I feel like that we as humans try to box people in because we’re afraid that someone else will want us to be something more. If you’re comfortable being a 5th grade high school teacher, you don’t want somebody out there over doing it making you feel like you need to get down and get into crypto, to build some real estate developments and to look into these areas. There are people that don’t want to do that. So that’s why they allow the 1% to tell them what to do and to tell them what’s cool.

AM: As someone who is an artist, what are some things that you have coming up that you can share as you have your hands in various pots.

TW: I have an EP that I’m working on musically, I have a TV show that I’m writing, executive producing and starring in which is my main focus. I will fight 2 more times this year one time will be boxing and the other will be MMA. I haven’t confirmed it, but if I can get this last fight of the year on NYE, then it will literally turn a lot of heads. I’m just in to doing stuff that’s ground breaking, trailblazing and when people try to tell you that you can’t do something, I’m trying to be a living vessel to show you that you can and to tell everyone else that they can shut up!

AM: How do you take time for yourself when you’re not in the midst of doing all of these projects?

TW: I just started doing that! So I took up golf and I’m just about to go play golf in Hawaii right now! The first time golfing, I was in Hawaii, my second time golfing – I was in Hawaii and now today, I’m taking my son out in the jungle where they filmed parts of Jurassic Park – we’re going to go out there. I like shooting guns and getting a haircut. Like, I’m really into getting a haircut and I don’t know why.

AM: How do you give back to your community and how important is that?

TW: I give back to my community and I would go to schools and talk to them and encourage them and showing them somebody that came up from a similar background or similar complexion could make it. A lot of kids used to message me and said they were from the same area that I grew up in and they wanted to know how I made it out of there. One in particular told me how he was getting bullied to join a gang and he didn’t want to. I was real with him and told him that I joined – it wasn’t because I was scared, but I didn’t want to have to deal with people asking me questions every day like which gang I was in. So, I did it because of that and I told this kid that he shouldn’t do it. He was a freshman in high school when he reached out and now he is a Senior, a kid named Cameron a D1 athlete with a scholarship and he made it out. So, I can do that and inspire others – obviously me going out there and doing well and winning is the best thing that I can do. Unfortunately, people don’t understand that the real life is not about whether you got the most points in regulation or what the judges are saying – it’s about how you live. You’re a champion because of the way that you live not because of the title or the belt, you know what I mean? That’s my thing to go out there and show you better and to tell you.

IG @therealest

PHOTO CREDIT | FRONT COVER + PG 50 9DRIP Jeff Bottari/Getty Images | PG 16, 20, 24 UFC/Getty Images | PG 18 + BACK COVER Josh Hedges/UFC/Getty Images | PG 23 Eric Lars Bakke/ESPN Images | PG 27 Art Streiber/NBC | PG 28 - 33 Byron Cohen/ABC |

Read the MAR ISSUE #75 of Athleisure Mag and see THE ARTIST | Tyron Woodley in mag.