Through her first 10 professional fights, Raquel Pennington was a .500 fighter. She was a perennial tough out, but when positioned against top talent in the 135-pound weight class, the Colorado native struggled to find success.
That same reality applied to her early UFC tenure as well, and even after ascending into contention on the strength of a four-fight winning streak that included avenging a previous defeat to Jessica Andrade and dominating Miesha Tate at Madison Square Garden, key results in big fights still didn’t go her way, resulting in a 1-3 run over her next four appearances that left her record sitting at 10-8 overall.
UFC 297 | Fight Card | Final Results | Official Scorecards
Four years later, Pennington woke up on Sunday morning as the UFC women’s bantamweight champion, having out-hustled Mayra Bueno Silva in a gritty battle that was won as much on resolve and determination as anything else. The victory extended her winning streak to six, and a look back at her struggles along the way offers a very different picture than most people ever seemed to notice.
Each of Pennington’s five UFC defeats have come against individuals that have held championship gold — Andrade, who went on to win the strawweight title and challenge for the flyweight crown; a pair of close decision losses to bantamweight champ and multiple time challenger across two divisions Holly Holm; the best female fighter of all time, Amanda Nunes; and former featherweight queen and bantamweight title challenger Germaine de Randamie.