The Full Story: Raquel Pennington

Sitting on her couch at home, eating lunch, the engaging champion shakes her head and smiles, knowing that what really happened pales in comparison to the epic potential of an “I broke my back while snowboarding” setup.

“We had just got done playing in the terrain park, and we were coming out to hit the regular slopes,” she continues. “I was fixing my glove, came across a sheet of ice, and the front edge of my board hooked, and here we are.”

Pennington laughs, knowing her run-of-the-mill fall doesn’t measure up to the “aerial dynamics gone wrong” ideas many conjure for themselves when all they know are the biggest pieces of the story, but the injury she sustained genuinely reshaped her life.

“I ended up a little depressed,” she offers, digging back into her memories and feelings from the time. “A sport doesn’t define us, but I feel as an athlete, it’s a huge part of who we are, so it’s all I’ve known. When I broke my back, I was still living at home; my room was in the basement, and I had to move upstairs because I couldn’t get down stairs.

“It took a huge toll on me; I couldn’t function, be myself. I ended up taking an academic scholarship to UCCS — University of Colorado at Colorado Springs — studying pre-med, but I still didn’t feel like myself.”

Throughout her life, Pennington’s mother, Rose, has been her best friend, chief sidekick, and No. 1 supporter.

“My mom has been there for every single fight,” Pennington says, beaming. “She missed one fight during COVID and she was devastated. She’s been there through all my athletics. She was at every single basketball game, every volleyball game, every softball game. When I was running cross country and track, she was always there.

“She has been there first-hand to see everything; all my struggles, ups and downs, and that I never gave up. I truly just value everything that woman has brought to the table. Every time I fill out a packet and they’re like, ‘Who’s your hero?’ These people always have these wild answers, and mine is simply: my mom.”

“That was the first encounter I had with MMA. I came back home, my mom and I were back at the gym, I told her about it, and she was like, ‘Let’s go talk to the coach.’ I think she thought it would be good to get me going again, get me motivated with something.

“Went in there, my coach was like, ‘We train Monday through Thursday. Here’s the schedule; come in tomorrow.’”

Pennington turned up in her basketball shorts, a complete novice, totally unaware of what she was getting herself into and the impact it would come to have on her life.

She bristled when her coach told her she could take her socks off and didn’t know what he meant when he said they would be sparring that evening. She had no clue what to do when he handed her two rolled up lengths of fabric and instructed her to wrap her hands.

“You should have seen those wraps!” she laughs, undoubtedly picturing the terrible job she did when first presented with a task she can do with her eyes closed all these years later. “Nothing made sense, but I was like, ‘Here we go!’

“I fell in love with the challenge. I fell in love with every part of it. It made something come alive inside of me again. I started training, getting into it, learning what it was all about.”

# # #

Pennington made her amateur debut in February 2009, earning a first-round submission win over Staci Vega at Kickdown 60: Supremacy in Casper, Wyoming.

Just under five years later, she lost to Leslie Smith at Invicta FC 4 to fall to 3-3 as a professional. Soon after, she fought her way onto The Ultimate Fighter, losing in the semifinals of the bantamweight tournament, which was won by Julianna Pena, but earning Fight of the Season honors for her quarterfinal win over Jessamyn Duke, impressing UFC CEO Dana White with her grit and tenacity along the way.

She won her UFC debut against Modafferi, but struggled to have consistent success, sandwiching a win over Ashlee Evans-Smith between split decision losses to Jessica Andrade and Holly Holm over her next three fights.

Pennington earned a second-round submission win over Andrade in a rematch at UFC 191 and followed it up with two additional victories, setting herself up for the biggest fight of her career: a UFC 205 matchup with her TUF 18 coach, Miesha Tate, at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Tate had dropped the bantamweight title in her previous appearance. With the new champ Amanda Nunes set to defend the belt against Ronda Rousey at the end of December and Holm having already suffered a second straight defeat after losing the title to Tate earlier in the year, the matchup between the two on the landmark first show at MSG was positioned as a title eliminator, with the winner joining Valentina Shevchenko at the top of the list of contenders in the 135-pound weight class.

Pennington earned a unanimous decision win, turning in the best performance of her career, though post-fight discussions about the fight quickly shifted to Tate as the former champion announced her retirement from the sport in the Octagon following the contest. “Rocky” slipped into the background, and went home to address some injuries that popped up during her training camp.

“Two weeks before the fight with Miesha, I tore my shoulder and my bicep,” recalls Pennington, whose effort in New York City looks even sharper given the physical issues she was dealing with at the time. In addition to shoulder surgery, Pennington had issues with her wrist and mouth addressed, as well.

“For me, I was like, ‘If I’m going under, let’s knock them all out.’ It sounded like a great idea. I was like, ‘My right side is going to be all jacked up, but I’m gonna be in the gym, training my left side,’ but it didn’t turn out that way. The doctor was like, ‘If you strain that side, you’re gonna mess up the other side and everything that we did.’”

View Pennington's Athlete Profile

Rather than being able to stay in the gym working on her conditioning and strengthening her left side, Pennington was forced to the sidelines, a challenging situation made tougher by watching her then-girlfriend, now wife, UFC strawweight contender Tecia Torres continue to compete.

“It took a toll on me,” admits Pennington. “I had to lay around, do nothing. I’m watching everybody else, I’m trying to be in the gym; Tecia had a real active career at that time. I was with her, but it was hard because I couldn’t be there. I wanted to just be myself.”

Unfortunately for Pennington, that wasn’t in the cards.

During her recovery period, she developed a thyroid issue, which, combined with being forced to be away from the gym, resulted in her weight climbing higher than it had ever been in the past, adding the mental toll being sidelined was taking on her.

She watched as Torres fought and won in February and July, continuing her own march up the rankings, and sat idle while Shevchenko pushed Nunes to her limits in their championship clash at UFC 215.

After Nunes emerged victorious in their first encounter — a three-round affair at UFC 196 where Shevchenko won the third going away — the rematch turned into a contentious affair when the champion was forced to withdraw from their original pairing at UFC 213 on the day of the fight, citing major sinus issues. A couple months later, the rivals engaged in a ultra-competitive five-round battle where “The Lioness” emerged victorious by the slimmest of margins, positioning her to face Pennington towards the end of 2017.

But her return to action was further delayed when an ATV accident put her fighting career in jeopardy.

“We were originally scheduled for December, and in October, I went on my family hunting trip. I broke my leg, sustained major injuries, had a ton of nerve damage, and barely avoided amputation; it was a scary time,” recalls Pennington, who had to call the UFC and let them know she was going to be sidelined even longer.

UFC 302: Dustin Poirier's Top Finishes | Islam Makhachev UFC Connected

The promotion started checking in about a return date in January, wondering if she’d be ready for March or April, and each time, the impending challenger had to ask for more time. She remained in her brace until the end of February and was still dealing with nerve damage in her leg when she finally accepted a May 12th title bout against Nunes in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at UFC 224.

She spent her entire camp avoiding her leg, stubbornly ignoring the advice of those around her telling her that she was coming back too soon and should pull out of the fight. The competitive athlete that had spent the previous 15 months on the sidelines was hell-bent on “getting back to normal,” convinced she could will her way through camp and back to a point where the fire inside of her matched what she was repeatedly telling herself.

“My head told me that I was gonna be champion, but I didn’t feel it in here,” Pennington says, tapping her chest. “And that’s where I failed.”

The first low kick Nunes threw 23 seconds into the fight swept the challenger off her feet, and from that point forward, Pennington was just trying to survive. She made it into the fifth round before the fight was finally halted.

“That moment in the first round, when she kicked my leg and I fell? I didn’t care about the fight; I was like, ‘Oh s*** — my leg is broken again!’” she explains. “It took everything to stand up, and then Amanda kept attacking it. I didn’t care about the fight; I was in survival mode.

“It was really hard. That was the first time I ever took an ***-whoopin! On top of that, I had this huge hype train, and after that fight, everybody bashed me into the ground, mostly for the moment I had in my corner where I told my coaches I didn’t want to fight any more from the pain going up my leg.

“I’ve been in a fight where I’ve broken bones, fractured bones and fought through it, but nerve damage is a completely different ballgame,” Pennington adds. “It took me to a low point and I continued to spiral from there.”

Once home, she started drinking a lot, opting to run away from everything she’d been through rather than process the latest heartbreak. She continued going to physical therapy, but didn’t push the way she needed to, telling herself everything was fine.

When the UFC announced plans to return to Denver for its 25th anniversary show in November 2017, Pennington jumped at the opportunity to compete close to home, but was in no way mentally or physically ready to step back into the Octagon.

She missed weight for the first time in her career ahead of fight with Germaine de Randamie, which she lost by unanimous decision.

Everything was crashing down around her, but this time, rather than try and white-knuckle her way through it, Pennington opted to press pause and start taking the steps she needed to in order to get her professional life back on track.

# # #

One of the things Pennington did after she quit feeling sorry for herself was connect with Justin Hougton, the owner and head coach at Pound-4-Pound Muay Thai in Denver.

MORE UFC 302: Islam Makhachev's Win Streak | Dustin Poirier Full-Fight Marathon | Five Islam Makhachev Fights To Watch

The fighting community in the Colorado capital and surrounding area is pretty close-knit, with local shows offering emerging talents a chance to start building a name for themselves and those within the region to be familiar with most of the names that call it home.

Having come up training in Colorado Springs and fighting on local shows during her amateur and early professional career, Pennington was someone Houghton knew of, knew a little about, but they hadn’t connected until they crossed paths at the bottom of Pikes Peak, where Pennington and Torres were running the huge hill commonly referred to as “The Incline.”

“I ran across her and Tecia, small-talked and then followed up,” explains Houghton, who has been working with the bantamweight titleholder ever since. “She was helping Tecia get ready for her fight (against Zhang Weili) and said, ‘Yeah, I can give it a try.’

“She came up, we did some cross-training together, went over some concepts, talked about her pros and cons in terms of things she feels she’s successful with and why she may have lost, talked about what we needed to do for her to evolve.

Dana White Announces Key Bouts For UFC 304 In Manchester

“We talked a little about adding some tools, adding some weapons, setting traps, and she was on board with everything and has some good insights to help me be a better coach too,” he continues. “I have to give credit where credit is due: I’m fortunate to be coaching a lot of high-level athletes and have people coming in from all over the world, but when they come in, I would be a fool not to learn things and ask questions, as well.

"She was able to give some input into what she felt were her best weapons that we could build off, and we got to work. The (Irene) Aldana fight was the first one that came across the board when we started working together. I watched some film and thought, ‘This girl is good,’ but with a little pressure, some creativity and heart, she went out there and showed a little bit of an updated version and we really haven’t looked back; just been building and climbing.”

Pennington got herself back in the win column with a unanimous decision victory over the dangerous Mexican boxer, but dropped her next fight, a rematch with Holm where she just couldn’t get anything going.

That fight took place at the start of 2020, and two months later, the world shut down as the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe.

While it brought an obvious set of challenges, Pennington points to time spent in lockdown as a key piece of what helped her rediscover her focus, rekindle her passion for the sport, and start having fun again.

“We were outside — I was teaching Tecia how to build a fence — and we came inside for a break,” begins the affable titleholder. “She put on the TV and me and Amanda’s fight was playing on ESPN. I looked at the TV and it stirred some emotions that I was not ready to face.

“Tecia was like, ‘I’m sorry; I’ll change it.’ I said, ‘No, leave it.’ I forced myself to watch it and I just sat here and bawled my eyes out.

“In that moment — when you’re in the moment, it always feels different versus when you’re out of it. I was sitting here re-watching it, and even though I was bawling, I was so proud of myself because the way that I felt, you could still see the fight in me. It didn’t matter that I was taking an ***-whipping; I was so much more critical on myself than I needed to be.”

She returned to action in June, beating Marion Reneau by unanimous decision before accepting a six-month ban after self-reporting having taken banned substances that were prescribed for her by her doctor.

Four months after her suspension ran its course, Pennington was back in the Octagon, getting the better of Pannie Kianzad to put herself on a two-fight run of success. She landed opposite Macy Chiasson in December after the former TUF featherweight winner replaced Julia Avila, prompting the bout to be moved to 145 pounds.

Despite Chiasson coming in over the limit, Pennington cruised, collecting a submission win midway through the second round to push her winning streak to three. She tacked on a win over Aspen Ladd in her lone appearance of 2022 to move into the Top 5 in the bantamweight rankings, setting up a clash with Ketlen Vieira on the opening card of 2023.

Pennington came away with a split decision win and a five-fight winning streak, establishing herself as one of the top contenders in the 135-pound weight class, positioning herself for a potential rematch with Nunes later in the year.

But just as with everything else in her sporting life, things wouldn’t work out the way she had hoped.

# # #

The UFC opted to schedule a trilogy fight between Nunes and Pena, setting the contest as the main event for UFC 289 in Vancouver, leaving Pennington with a decision to make whether to wait for the winner or face Aldana again.

“I was frustrated, but then I was like, ‘Challenge accepted! I go out and beat her, I want it in the contract that we’re fighting for a world title after that.’”

The contest was set to headline the May 20th show at the UFC APEX, but a few weeks out, the phone rang again, notifying her that Pena was out and Aldana was in for the Nunes fight.

Pennington ventured to Vancouver barely a week after she and Tecia welcomed their daughter, Alayah, into the world, making the championship weight of 135 pounds as the backup fighter, but she was not needed. Aldana made weight, walked into the Octagon, and more or less froze in the biggest moment of her career.

Nunes rolled to a unanimous decision win and then announced her retirement from the sport, leaving the promotion to figure out a new pair to pit against one another for the vacant bantamweight title.

Following her trip to Vancouver, Pennington took time off to be a parent and enjoy Alayah’s first weeks and months with her wife.

Eventually, the phone rang again.

“Best call ever, because I’ve been waiting for this, and even more exciting because it has to be against Julianna, who I’ve been waiting to fight since 2013,” she says, laughing at the memory.

Pennington was, in fact, being tapped to fight for the vacant title, but it wouldn’t be against her fellow TUF 18 cast member.

With Pena still injured and unable to compete, the UFC turned to Brazilian Mayra Bueno Silva to stand opposite Pennington, with the bout positioned as the co-main event for UFC 297 in Toronto in January. While her most recent win over Holm — a second-round submission finish — had been overturned to a no contest, “Sheetara” was unbeaten in four starts since moving up to the bantamweight ranks, and profiled as a dangerous threat for anyone in the division.

“I honestly was disappointed,” admits Pennington, who has tensions with Pena that date back to their time together on The Ultimate Fighter. “But then it was like, at the end of the day, it is what it is. I’m gonna go out and get this world title, and from there, we can accomplish other things that I want to do.”

At some point in this journey, you would think that the stars would align for Pennington; that after years of battling back from major injuries and building herself back up, mentally and physically, the persistent and resilient prizefighter would sail through a training camp unscathed, navigate fight week without an issue and deliver the kind of dynamic performance she and her coaches know she’s capable of delivering.

Then again, it wouldn’t be true to her story if she didn’t have to overcome more adversity in order to finally reach the top of the mountain, would it?

“Listen, that whole week was incredible, and I mean that sarcastically,” she says, rolling her eyes and smiling. “I had the best camp — everything was amazing, everything was aligning; my head, my heart, everything. It was perfect. It was like, ‘It’s finally my time.’ I pulled out a side of myself in camp that I knew was in there, and I was so excited — not to show the world, but to show myself publicly.”

Then her travel to Toronto got screwed up and her luggage got lost.

Feeling miserable, she pushed herself through the week, hitting the championship limit at Friday morning’s weigh-in, but it broke down her body. She couldn’t rehydrate properly and didn’t feel much like eating at the team dinner the night before the fight, craving only her bed, though sleep eluded her, too.

“I was tossing and turning all night,” says Pennington, able to smile about the ordeal now that it has passed. “I woke up for fight day, and normally there is so much excitement, so many nerves. I woke up at the butt-crack of dawn because I couldn’t breathe, I was coughing so bad, and I told Tecia, ‘I don’t know if I can fight.’ I was jacked up.

“Our call time wasn’t until 8:45pm that night and we spent all day trying to get me together. I had the worst body aches, the worst sinus pressure, I couldn’t breathe, and I was like, ‘Who the hell wants to go get into a fight like this?’ It was terrible.”

Things didn’t get better when they got to Air Canada Centre and tried to get loose before heading into battle, either.

“She had a stressful fight week being ill, and when we were warming up in the back, part of the plan was that we were gonna throw some calf kicks of our own,” begins Houghton, explaining more of the behind-the-scenes drama that preceded the fight. “She was in between not knowing if I wanted her to chop my leg or go to the calf, and when she warms up, we’re not playing pitter-patter — she’s building up, turning into a savage, slowly.

“She kicked my knee as hard as she could and I could see on her face,” he says, replicating the “Oh S***!” look that came over Pennington’s face after she blasted his knee. “I’ve never had that happen in one of her fights. She had a pretty big goose egg.”

When it was finally time to make the walk to the Octagon, Pennington looked at her coaches and told them, “This is gonna hurt.”

They collectively told her they didn’t care how grimy the fight played out, reminding her that while Bueno Silva was sure to come out firing on all cylinders early, the Brazilian was likely to fade as the fight progressed.

“Win this world title and just do what you need to do; we don’t give a s***!’” was their final message, and Pennington went out and did just that.

"The only place I didn’t want her was in the guard and in the clinch, and the fence was iffy,” Houghton says with a smile. “Not that we thought she was gonna lose there, but we believed in her hands, and if you look at her history, she out-lands everybody and you can tell that the shots she throws, they sting people differently.

“But I’m not the one getting hit,” he adds. “She was able to go out there, go where we didn’t want her, feel things, and figure things out. She did what she had to do to get her hand raised.

“I’m so proud of her.”

When the verdict was announced, Pennington stood emotionless in the center of the cage as the belt was wrapped around her waist.

Most, including Daniel Cormier, who entered the Octagon to speak with the new women’s bantamweight champion, attributed it to shock.

In truth, Pennington was extremely frustrated.

“When they wrapped the belt around my waist and Cormier started interviewing me, I was quiet for a second because I was frustrated,” she explains. “I didn’t feel well and I was frustrated because I put in so much freaking work. ‘This is not how I wanted to win this world title.’

WATCH: Raquel Pennington Octagon Interview | UFC 297

“There were moments in that fight where I felt like I could have finished her, but have you ever been so exhausted that your mind is saying, ‘Go!’ and your body isn’t doing it? Everybody was like, ‘You were in shock!’ and I was like, ‘I was disappointed.’

“It was a lot to absorb.”

In the wake of her win, Pennington got a text from Nunes, who asked how she was feeling. When she told the former two-division champion she didn’t feel like she was feeling the right things, “The Lioness” told her how miserable she was through her first three fights after winning the title, stuck trying to live up the people’s expectations and ultimately follow in the footsteps of Rousey, whose run of success from the division’s inception in the UFC was, at the time, the benchmark for all other women’s bantamweight titleholders.

“Amanda and I had a conversation,” begins Pennington, recalling the thoughts Nunes shared with her in the days after she ascended to the throne the Brazilian had abdicated six months prior. “It’s a tough path to follow when you follow somebody so dominant.

“She pretty much did the same thing, so she was like, ‘I didn’t understand it and I hated every second of it for my first three fights, and then I learned how to adapt. I embraced it for me, and my whole life changed.’”

The conversation flipped something inside of Pennington.