Amanda Nunes held onto her women’s bantamweight title last night (Sat., May 12, 2018) at UFC 224 live on pay-per-view (PPV) from inside Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, when she defeated tough challenger Raquel Pennington via fifth-round TKO.
Nunes battered the lead leg of Pennington early, forcing the challenger to eat heavy damage no matter where the fight took place. The champ started to back “Rocky” up into the cage and land combinations over the top and to the body. Pennington did return fire and land some good counters, but they were one-shot pops.
Pennington’s leg really looked bad entering the third round, but she was still initiating offense and pressuring Nunes when the action drew close. Nunes kept landing, though, whether it was timely takedowns, knees, or forward combinations. The champ would start to really find her way on the feet and the ground.
Pennington told her corner she wanted to be done before the fifth round, but was talked into fighting five more minutes. Footage of that moment can be seen below:
Here is the moment Raquel Pennington said she was done. Hate that her corner allowed the fight to continue. They failed her and should be fined. #UFC224 pic.twitter.com/m7IgdfK2IT
— Josh Sánchez (@jnsanchez) May 13, 2018
Nunes continued to press the action in the fifth and land shots on a bloodied “Rocky.” The champion would go on to brutalize Pennington with a knee along the fence which busted the challenger’s nose and left her incapable of continuing. Nunes added a few more shots before the referee stepped in for the TKO stoppage.
Check out the full fight video highlights above courtesy of UFC.
With this performance, Nunes locks down her third-straight title defense at 135 pounds and proves that she may be an unstoppable force in the division. Another title defense like this and “Lioness” almost has to move up and fight Cris Cyborg.
For complete UFC 224 results and coverage click here.