mma / News

Raquel Pennington Still Wants to Face Julianna Pena

August 22, 2016 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas

Raquel Pennington spoke with MMAjunkie following her win at UFC 202. Some highlights are below:

On her next fight: “I want anybody within the top-10. Of course every girl brings a different challenge to the table, but if you ask me, I just broke the top-10. It was a little frustrating for this fight. I don’t want to take away from anybody, and I don’t want to take away from Elizabeth Phillips. She did what she needed to do to get into the UFC. But when you’re sitting here talking to people and they’re like ‘Who are you fighting?’ and you’re like, ‘Elizabeth Phillips,’ and they’re like, ‘Who’s that?’ and you’ve got to constantly explain things, it’s frustrating. So I definitely want somebody who’s in the top-10. I feel I have a lot of storylines with these girls that are up there. I want to avenge some of my losses, and I want to go after what’s important, and that’s the world title.”

On who she wants to rematch: “Cat Zingano. When I went into that fight, that was probably one of the fights that hurt my pride a little bit with the fact that none of these girls have done any damage to me. That was probably a fight that I shouldn’t have taken once I landed in Kansas City for that fight. I ended up getting food poisoning or some type of flu. I was definitely sick the entire time, I passed out three different times during my weight cut, and me being the stubborn athlete that I am, I was the one that – I couldn’t pull from the fight. My coaches and everybody were like ‘This isn’t a smart move from you,’ and back then to me it wasn’t about recovery, it was about how mentally strong you can be, and I went out there.”

On a possible fight with Julianna Pena: “Julianna, she’s climbing the ranks and doing everything, but I was on the show with her and there’s a lot of heat there. It’s somebody that I definitely want. When it comes down to the politics and stuff, it’s definitely something that I have to wait for. I’ve got to correct my record a little bit. So if that’s the path I’m supposed to be on, then I’ll just continue to prove myself. I think everybody kind of had it in mind to where we’d go in there, she’d win the semifinals, I’d win the semifinals and we’d match up in the finale.”