Raquel Pennington is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s bantamweight division. She has previously fought for Invicta Fighting Championships. As of October 12, 2020, she is No 4 in the UFC women’s bantamweight rankings.
Raquel Pennington was born on September 5, 1988, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States. She grew up playing many sports from basketball, softball, volleyball, running cross country, to always wanting to box, but never played sports in colleague due to a broken back. She started training in martial arts at the age of 19.
Raquel Pennington, also known with the nickname “Rocky”, made her professional MMA debut on March 3, 2012, at MFP – Vengeance, winning versus Kim Couture by TKO. Her second fight was at RMBB / TB – A Champion’s Quest, losing by unanimous decision from Tori Adams.
Raquel Pennington made her Invicta FC promotional debut against future The Ultimate Fighter teammate Sarah Moras on July 28, 2012, at Invicta FC 2. She won via unanimous decision. Her next two fights for the promotion were both losses – from Cat Zingano at Invicta FC 3 (by rear-nacked choke submission) and one to Leslie Smith at Invicta FC 4 (by unanimous decision).
In August 2013, Raquel Pennington was announced as a cast member of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rousey vs. Team Tate. She defeated veteran Tonya Evinger via submission due to a guillotine choke in the first round and was the third female pick of Team Tate. Raquel Pennington faced Jessamyn Duke in the elimination round and defeated her via unanimous decision and the performance earned both participants Fight of The Season honors. Advancing to the semi-final, Raquel Pennington next faced former boxing champion Jessica Rakoczy in the final episode of the series. Prior to the fight, she damaged her hand but was still able to fight. She lost a unanimous decision to Rakoczy.
Raquel Pennington made her UFC debut against TUF 18 teammate Roxanne Modafferi on November 30, 2013, at The Ultimate Fighter 18 Finale. She won via unanimous decision.
For her second fight in the UFC was against Jessica Andrade on March 15, 2014, at UFC 171. She lost the back-and-forth fight via split decision.
In next six fights in the UFC, Raquel Pennington registered five wins – versus Ashlee Evans-Smith (by technical submission), Jessica Andrade (by rear-naked choke submission), Bethe Correia (by split decision), Elizabeth Phillips (by unanimous decision), and Miesha Tate (by unanimous decision).
After being away from fighting for about a year and a half, Raquel Pennington faced Amanda Nunes on May 12, 2018, at UFC 224 in a UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship bout. She lost the fight via TKO in the fifth round.
Raquel Pennington returned at UFC Fight Night 139 on November 10, 2018, where she took on former UFC featherweight champ Germaine de Randamie, бут She lost the fight via unanimous decision.
In her next fights, Raquel Pennington got 2 wins (versus Irene Aldana and Marion Reneau) but lost from Holly Holm.
Raquel Pennington has a personal MMA record of 11-8-0 (W-L-D).
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