Amanda Nunes Says Raquel Pennington’s Corner Failed Her At UFC 224, Pennington & Tecia Torres Disagree

UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Amanda Nunes successfully defended the gold against Raquel Pennington in the main event of UFC 224.

The corner of Pennington drew criticism for sending out the fighter out against Nunes in the fifth round, even though Pennington said she was done after the fourth round. The women’s bantamweight champion believes the corner failed Pennington by sending the soon to be defeated fighter out for one more round.

“It’s sad,” Nunes told MMA Junkie. “(My girlfriend) Nina (Ansaroff) told me. I didn’t even know. Nina told me in the locker room. It’s sad because you could avoid something. She went to the hospital. It might be a bad injury for her to go to the hospital. I already asked Nina to text her – if she needs anything I’m here. It’s sad. If she didn’t have the right conditioning to fight then the coach should have thrown in the towel for sure. I think my coach wouldn’t let me go through that. It’s sad. Everyone must be saying a lot of bad things about him on social media, but I really think she needs to surround herself with people who want the best for her so she can really evolve for her next fights. Unfortunately, tonight (the cornerman) failed.”

Tecia Torres is engaged to Pennington and she didn’t corner the fighter at UFC 224, but they both standing by the corners decision on that night.

Torres shared the couples thoughts through a post on Instagram:

 

#Forever I am extremely proud of my lady. You are a warrior babe. Fought every second you possibly could. You continue to amaze me daily. You motivate me to work hard and one day too receive the same opportunity to fight for a UFC championship. We are the 1%ers. Very few will ever know what we go thru as fighters and an even smaller percentage will ever earn the chance to fight on such a big stage and for a world title. #RideOrDie #AlwaysProud PS: Both us and our coaches agree with the decision made to go into the 5th round. We know Raquel more than anyone else and know if we let her give up on herself going into the last round she would have always regretted it. She fought with heart and grit until the end. PSS: Exactly one year ago today you asked me to marry you, I can't freaking wait to wife you! — @raquel_pennington

A post shared by Tecia Torres (@teciatorres) on May 13, 2018 at 11:37am PDT

Nunes has now successfully defended her title for the third straight time, while Pennington was defeated for the first time in over three years.