Longtime UFC veteran Raquel Pennington outpointed Mayra Bueno Silva to seize the vacant women’s bantamweight title Saturday night at UFC 297.
TORONTO — Nearly six years after suffering a demoralizing defeat to Amanda Nunes in her first UFC title appearance, Raquel Pennington has finally climbed to the top of the mountain.
Pennington (16-8) seized the UFC’s vacant bantamweight championship on Saturday, defeating Brazilian challenger Mayra Bueno Silva (10-3-1) by unanimous decision in the co-main event of UFC 297 inside Scotiabank Arena. All three judges scored the five-round bout for Pennington via scores of 49-46, 49-46 and 49-45.
Pennington, 35, becomes the UFC’s first 135-pound champion since Nunes retired from the sport last year. She fought Nunes for the belt in May 2018 in Brazil and suffered a TKO loss. Many criticized Pennington’s corner afterward for not throwing in the towel when Pennington looked defeated on her stool between rounds due to Nunes’s vicious leg kicks.
