UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Amanda Nunes defeated Valentina Shevchenko by split decision in the main event of UFC 215.
Raquel Pennington is a top contender in the division and she wasn’t impressed by what she saw between both women at the event.
“I wasn’t impressed with either one of them,” Pennington said on The MMA Hour. “I don’t feel like either one of them really went out there and did anything. The highlights made the fight look a lot more exciting than what it really was. Amanda, she had center control the entire time and I guess if you really want to break it down - I haven’t broken it down yet to see all the strikes landing and stuff and I didn’t pay attention to all that, I was just kind of watching the competition because I do believe I’m the No. 1 contender now. So that’s kind of more of what I was paying attention to.”
Pennington has yet to fight either of the women who headlined UFC 215, but she did defeat Miesha Tate, whom Nunes defeated to win the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Title.
The female bantamweight contender also feels that what the champion and challenger did at UFC 215 could be accomplished by any two fighters.
“I just figured, with the close fight that they had before, that Valentina would come out given this opportunity and put on a bigger performance, and Amanda obviously wanting to keep the belt, she would go out there and try to dominate,” Pennington said. “But to see them just kind of go back and forth and stand in front of each other, and it was kind of annoying me with the fact that they were bragging about her cardio and stuff because in my opinion everyone can stand in front of each other and do that for five rounds.”
Nunes is taking the rest of 2017 off, but Pennington may be standing opposite of her when the champion returns in 2018.
