Raquel Pennington Says Cyborg vs. Amanda Nunes Rumors Angered Her

Raquel Pennington is less than two months away from challenging UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Amanda Nunes for the gold in the main event of UFC 224.

There was a lot of talk surrounding a potential super fight between Nunes and UFC Women’s Featherweight Champion Cyborg, it was talk that ticked off the bantamweight title challenger.

“I have to admit I was frustrated with it and I started making calls right away because I don’t find that very fair at all,” Pennington said on The MMA Hour. “I think I’ve definitely earned this spot and I think that fight deserved to be mine. So the fact that they’re just wanting to see a superfight really pissed me off, given the fact that Cyborg’s in a completely different division and then you’re trying to take the champion from our division and create this huge superfight. You just want another girl with another name or two Brazilians? Like, what’s happening here? So there was a lot of frustration there, but it’s kind of one of those things that it’s not really in your control so why let it bother you so much?”

Pennington and Nunes were rumored to fight last year, but Pennington suffered a broken leg and the bout was never officially announced.

The top contender also dislikes the fact that the UFC is pulling women from the bantamweight division to challenge for the UFC Women’s Featherweight Title.

“Everybody brings a different challenge to you and Cyborg, yeah, she’s built a reputation for herself. She’s known as the most dangerous woman on the planet,” Pennington said. “She hasn’t lost since 2005 and she’s going out there and she’s destroying girls and she has this 145-pound division and I don’t like to take credit away from anybody or anything, I feel like everybody deserves their position, but for me right now I honestly don’t feel like the 145-pound division makes a whole lot of sense because they’re not bringing in any athletes. So it’s like they’re pulling people out of the 135 division and whatnot, but speaking for myself, Cyborg, she’s just another female. Yeah, she’s a little bit heavier, I walk heavier normally, so it wouldn’t be something that I’m gonna say that I’d push to the side, I’m more than definitely willing to go out and fight her one day.”

UFC 224 takes place on Saturday, May 12 from the Jeunesse Arena in Rio De Janiero, Brazil with Amanda Nunes and Raquel Pennington headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.