Raquel Pennington has lost her past two fights, she faces Irene Aldana on the prelims of Saturday's ... [+]
When Raquel Pennington hit the 10-fight mark of her career in February 2015, she had a 5-5 record. In her 10th fight, Pennington dropped a split decision to Holly Holm. Holm would later go on to shock the world with a head kick knockout of Ronda Rousey later that year. Pennington did not reach those same heights, but she did put together a four-fight winning streak between September 2015 and November 2016. That run earned her a shot at Amanda Nunes, who had taken women’s bantamweight title from Miesha Tate. Pennington scored that title shot with a decision win over Tate.
That fight was delayed until May 2018 after Pennington underwent a few surgeries and later suffered a leg injury in a car accident. Nunes overwhelmed Pennington in that fight. Between the fourth and fifth round, Pennington told her corner, “I want to be done.” Her coaches refused to listen to her. Pennington later defended their decision to allow her to continue. Nunes knocked Pennington out at the mid-point of the fifth round.
Pennington followed that one-side defeat with a unanimous decision setback to Germaine de Randamie in November 2018. Pennington also came in overweight for that contest.
Pennington is currently the No. 6 ranked fighter in the women’s bantamweight division. She meets No. 10 ranked Irene Aldana on the preliminary card of Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 4 event. Aldana is on a three-fight winning streak and coming off a May submission win over Bethe Correia. Aldana is the favorite in this contest.
The women’s bantamweight rankings are volatile, as evidenced by Julianne Pena rocketing from unranked to No. 4 after her UFC Fight Night 155 win over Nicco Montano on Saturday. That seems to indicate that Pennington, who has been with the UFC since 2013, cannot afford a third consecutive defeat, especially with fighters such as Aldana, Macy Chiasson, Lina Lansburg, Sijara Eubanks and Viviane Araujo looking to move up the rankings.
No ranked women’s 135-pounder is currently riding a three-fight losing skid and only two others have lost their two most recent fights, those competitors, Marion Reneau and Sara McMann check in at No. 9 and No. 11 in the rankings.
This is one of the most critical fights of Pennington’s career.
UFC on ESPN 4 takes place at AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. ESPN broadcasts the entire event.
More from this series:
UFC On ESPN 4 Preview: Has Ray Borg Sorted Things Out?
UFC On ESPN 4 Preview: Can Roxanne Modafferi Get Even With Jennifer Maia?
