Dana White: Julianna Pena 'attacked' in her gym by male fighter, leading to 'worst injury ever' in MMA

Yesterday (Jan. 29, 2014), news broke that The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 18 women's winner, Julianna Pena, had suffered a knee injury that forced her out of her battle against Jessica Andrade, which was set for UFC 171 on March 15, 2014, in Dallas, Texas.

It was an injury so "disgusting" that Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White hinted that Pena could be out of action for as much as two years.

Today, disturbing details emerged during White's UFC 169 media scrum (watch it here) that claimed Pena was actually "attacked" in her own gym by a male fighter.

He explains (via MMA Fighting):

"It's the worst knee injury I've ever heard of, ever, in this sport, and you hear about those types of knee injuries in football. Apparently, when she came into the gym -- and again, she was hysterical when I talked to her, crying -- she was training in her gym and one of her training partners, a guy, was saying to her, ‘oh, you're wearing your Ultimate Fighter shirt, we're real scared.' He says that and was talking smack to her and then basically attacked her. He jumped on her back, started cranking her neck, and the way she fell her knee blew out. The most disgusting thing I've ever heard in my life. A year-and-a-half to two years she'll be out, and I told her to leave that disgusting gym and go somewhere else with new coaches, new training partners, whatever. And that's all I know."

According to White, it wasn't playful grappling, either, as the Las Vegas fight boss flat out described the incident -- which caused an ACL, MCL and LCL tear on Pena's knee -- as an "assault."

Now we know the reason he advised Pena to abandon the gym as soon as possible.

That's quite a contradiction to what "Sikjitsu" team leader, Rick Little, blamed for the mishap, citing failing to warm up properly as the reason for the injury.

According to White, Pena's version of the story is drastically different:

"That's so far from the story she told me right after she was completely hysterical and crying, completely opposite. Completely different story from what she told me. Somewhere in the middle lies the truth."

Indeed, the full truth will eventually come out once "The Venezuelan Vixen" makes her first public comments about the situation. In the meantime, we wish her a speedy recovery.

As always, keep it locked on MMAmania.com as further details emerge.