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