Raquel Pennington can finally calls herself a champion after claiming the vacant bantamweight title following a grueling, five-round win over Mayra Bueno Silva in the UFC 297 co-main event.
It wasn’t the prettiest performance but an ugly win is still a win.
Pennington survived a strong start from Bueno Silva and then just began chipping away, round after round. Using her conditioning and a relentless pace as her best weapon, Pennington never gave Bueno Silva a minute to breathe and by the time the fight ended, the Brazilian was absolutely exhausted.
The judges ultimately scored the fight 49-46, 49-46 and 49-45 with Pennington getting the win and becoming the new champion at 135 pounds.
“It feels surreal,” Pennington said afterwards. “It’s been a long five years getting back to this. I expected to come out here and do a lot more but a fight’s a fight. Mayra’s tough. I climbed mountains to get back here. Stay believing because that’s exactly what I did.”
There was no feeling out process in the title fight with Pennington looking to press the action and close the distance with Bueno Silva happy to meet her in every exchange. A clinch battle ensued but it was Bueno Silva who eventually dragged Pennington to the canvas midway through the opening round.
Bueno Silva wasted no time advancing to take the back with Pennington returning to her feet and playing defense with the Brazilian still holding onto her. Pennington defended well but she had Bueno Silva stuck to her with no chance to escape until the round ended.
It looked like Bueno Silva would continue to employ that same strategy moving forward but Pennington avoided the clinch and the takedowns enough to finally let her hands fly. Pennington connected with several nasty punches that had Bueno Silva backing up and showing signs that the damage was adding up.
Unfortunately, Pennington got too close and that allowed Bueno Silva to grab onto her before jumping on her back yet again. Bueno Silva looked for the rear-naked choke but Pennington stayed tough to resist the submission attempt.
As the fight moved into the third round, Bueno Silva started showing signs of slowing down with Pennington digging to the body with punches and then reversing half-hearted takedown attempts. Bueno Silva was fading badly and Pennington made her pay with punishing shots to the head and body as they battled it out on the ground.
Bueno Silva continued to struggle until she managed to take the back momentarily and nearly locking on a submission but Pennington showed patience until escaping. From there, Pennington peppered away with punches from the top with Bueno Silva throwing up her legs, possibly looking for an armbar or a triangle choke attempt.
None of it worked as Pennington kept breaking free then posturing up and delivering powerful punches with Bueno Silva absorbing more and more damage. Even with a minute break between rounds, Bueno Silva’s energy was so drained that she could only muster a spinning backfist before she ended up dropping to the ground again.
Pennington quickly latched onto an arm triangle choke from the top but she just couldn’t quite lock on the submission. Bueno Silva resisted just enough to prevent the finish but clearly shifted into survival mode and offering almost nothing in return.
The crowd unleashed a chorus of boos as time ran out with Pennington just chopping away at Bueno Silva’s legs as she continued to lay on the mat. It’s not likely a performance that will end up on her highlight reel but Pennington definitely did enough to earn the victory and now she’s got a UFC title to show for it.
With the win, Pennington will almost assuredly draw former champion Julianna Peña next after she suffered an injury that prevented her from competing at UFC 297 on Saturday.
“I thought it was going to be Julianna next,” Pennington said. “It’s been 10 years I’ve been waiting for that fight.”
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