mma / News

Raquel Pennington Speaks on Coming Back After a Title Loss

November 10, 2018 | Posted by Jeffrey Harris

UFC fighter Raquel Pennington spoke to reporters in a media scrum during fight week for UFC Fight Night 139. Below are some highlights (via MMAjunkie). Pennington is set to face Germaine de Randamie later today in Denver, Colorado. As previously reported, she missed weight for the bout and was forced to forfeit 20 percent of her purse.

Raquel Pennington on her title loss: “I think everything happens for a reason. It’s one of those things where I went out there – I’m completely grateful for the opportunity, that will never change.”

Raquel Pennington on how she felt out of tune: “I kind of felt out of tune with myself, if that makes any sense. And then I experienced some injuries going through that camp, and then going out there, being in a different country. It was a cool experience, but then there was a lot of difficulties. And then I got into the accident where I broke my leg. I thought that everything was recovered and healed, and for me I don’t if it was just like being in a rush to going back out and doing what I love because I was away from it for so long. But in the fight with Amanda, the first strike she threw, I fell on the ground, stood back up, and she hit it a second time. And it was a game-changer. That was not me in the octagon, at all. I can honestly say I was in a defensive mode the entire fight. To watch that fight was one of the hardest fights to watch for myself to actually learn and pick out, because it was just like, that wasn’t really me in there to really learn anything.”

Raquel Pennington on her fight camp: “I didn’t realize how much of an effect it would take. But it’s hard. It’s tough. I actually started this fight camp at 170, unwillingly. I do everything I could possibly do, I stay in shape. I’ve had a lot of people come to me and ask me if I’ve ever considered going down to 125. And it’s just like, I have the Mexi-roll, is what I like to call it and stuff, but with how hard I train and everything, I should actually be like a walking anatomy chart. … (Hypothyroidism) is one of those things to where you develop it and, obviously, being an athlete and constantly playing with the weight and stuff. We’re just trying to find a way to fine-tune it and what truly works for me. And since it’s something so new, we haven’t exactly fine-tuned it. There was a time in this camp where I actually started at 170, I was dropping really well, training was going great, and all of a sudden I started going back up in weight.So then I shot up to 162, and we weren’t understanding it, so we went back into the doctor’s to try to figure things out. And then the weight slowly started to come off.”