Raquel Pennington isn’t surprised within the least about Amanda Nunes teasing a possible return to the octagon.
Following Pennington dropping the bantamweight title by way of a controversial cut up resolution to Julianna Peña at UFC 307, the now two-time titleholder ignored fellow occasion winner Kayla Harrison, and went proper for a trilogy struggle with Nunes. The third assembly was booked for UFC 289 in June 2023, however a Peña damage led to Nunes defending the belt towards Irene Aldana in the primary occasion — which Nunes efficiently did by way of lopsided resolution earlier than saying her retirement.
Nunes since launched a touch upon social media, tagging UFC CEO Dana White, asking him to name her. If “The Lioness” returns to the fold, Pennington will probably be cheering her on.
“Clearly Amanda and I’ve fought however we’ve recognized one another since Invicta,” Pennington advised MMA Combating. “I’ve all the time supported her profession, she’s supported mine, my household helps her and stuff, after which her and Nina [Nunes] are two of Tecia [Pennington’s] closest pals. So each time we go to Florida, we’re down at their home. I imply, we stick with them half of the time and the children get to play collectively, and whatnot.
“They’re opponents — each of them — and so it’s not simply even Amanda. I really feel prefer it’s one thing that everyone’s recognized for a very long time, and as an athlete, like, when have you learnt the proper time to stroll away? This can be a dialog that I even have with different athletes and so they’re like, ‘I don’t know, I suppose we’ll determine it out,’ and also you see a number of these athletes, they’re like, ‘OK, like we’re good.’ They usually’re in that part of their life after which hastily, it’s like, they’re pure born opponents.
“I’ve had conversations with each Amanda and Nina, and so they’re similar to, ‘Yeah, we’re executed for now’ kind factor, and ‘we may be coming again,’ and naturally, Amanda, she’s been very profitable with the whole lot. She’s often called the GOAT and he or she’s executed wonderful issues, and he or she likes to shut everyone’s mouth. And so that you had Kayla are available in and he or she’s made the remark about the truth that she would love to only shut Kayla up, [and] everyone knows how she feels about Julianna, and he or she stated that if Julianna ever received the belt again, she was gonna come again and beat the brakes off of her. I really feel like I can’t communicate for Amanda, however I’m not stunned along with her video in any respect simply understanding her as an individual, understanding her as a competitor and I’m positive the world would completely like to see her again.”
Nunes could be a welcome addition to the present bantamweight slate, which is actually extra above the radar following Nunes’ retirement. With Pennington discovering her stride, together with Peña, Harrison, Vieira, and extra within the combine, one of many promotion’s most shallow divisions by way of numbers has gotten a shot of depth and pleasure.
Pennington sees it too, however believes recognition has been deserving for a while. Now the dominoes are falling in the proper place for the division to shine.
“It’s sort of like when Ronda left, you [had’ Amanda who [had] began a really profitable run for herself, however the world was simply completely hating on her,” Pennington sait. “It was similar to, ‘Oh, Ronda left, like, this division sucks.’ After which hastily, Amanda simply utterly took over and it’s like, ‘OK, Amanda left, this division sucks.’ The world has a tough time in terms of change initially, however the girls’s bantamweight division truly has a number of expertise.
“That’s why even with the matchup between Ketlen and Kayla, like, I assumed it was extraordinarily disrespectful to not give Ketlen any credit score. She’s a really gifted fighter. She packs a punch. It’s a distinct ball recreation. Girls are on this division for a motive, and so it’s actually attention-grabbing to see. It was actually cool that they put a number of the prime fights on the cardboard, in order that method the world can truly see much more expertise that’s there.
“There’s expertise right here and I really feel just like the division undoubtedly wants much more credit score.”
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