For whatever reason, some UFC fans still aren’t quite sold on the women’s bantamweight division, but if they watched Raquel Pennington and Jessamyn Duke batter one another in a fan-friendly scrap on episode six of The Ultimate Fighter 18 they might change their mind.
“People who still aren’t a fan of female fighters should just watch and see that man women can throw down,” popular TUF 18 competitor Roxanne Modafferi said.
Team Tate’s Pennington is a strong brawler that relies on her toughness and punching power, while Team Rousey’s Duke is a lanky Muay Thai artist that aims to pick her opponents apart.
Earlier in their careers the two women were supposed to fight but it never came to fruition. But the stylistic matchup had many thinking this would be an exciting fight and the show the two girls ended up putting on exceeded any expectations.
Watch The Ultimate Fighter 18 every Wednesday on Sportsnet 360 and get weekly episode recaps on sportsnet.ca
“Duke vs. Pennington was probably the best female fight I’ve ever seen,” Team Rousey’s Anthony Gutierrez said. “It was competitive, action-packed, they were both so tough.”
Veteran Shayna Baszler added: “Rocky and Jessamyn, man what a fight. Just when you thought one was out and one was getting the momentum one would come back, it was really back and forth.”
THE FIGHT
In round one, Duke was effective in using her reach, keeping Pennington at bay with knees and kicks when she pressed forward. At one point Duke locked in a standing guillotine choke, but Pennington stayed calm and escaped.
Both women opened up in the second round and Pennington began landing strong punches, busting open her opponent. Duke responded with some flush knees to the face of Pennington, but the Team Tate fighter did more damage to take the frame and send the fight to a third and deciding round.
The final stanza saw Duke begin to slow down a bit and Pennington take control of the action. Pennington was able to get inside on Duke’s reach and continue to land the harder shots. All three judges scored the round and the fight for Pennington, who advanced to the semi-finals of the eight-woman tournament.
“That fight was absolutely the toughest fight I’ve ever had,” a bruised up Duke said. “If I let up for even a second I could feel her momentum growing and I had to keep fighting back to keep that from happening.”
Pennington was pleased with the outcome. “I feel great,” she said. “I feel like I performed pretty well. I feel like I could have let loose a little bit more but I just had to get used to the jitters and everything else … and I did my thing.”
Dana White also liked what he saw. “I was really impressed with Raquel,” the UFC president explained. “She’s a hell of a counterpuncher, she hits hard. I like her, I like her a lot. … Every time she gets hit with something big, she makes it look like she didn’t.”
Watch the full fight below:
OUTSIDE THE OCTAGON
Rousey flips Tate the bird
Following the fight between Duke and Pennington, Miesha Tate went to shake the hands of her opposing coaches and it didn’t go well.
Tate extended her hand to Ronda Rousey as a show of sportsmanship, but the UFC women’s bantamweight champ flipped her the bird and replied with a swift, “Go (expletive) yourself.”
“It seems like the tables have turned because she used to be the one who was always giggling at me and I’d get all upset about it and be like ‘ugh I hate this girl,’ but I don’t really hate her anymore,” Tate said. “To me it’s just kind of funny.”
Pool party
The fighters got another day out of the house and watched a UFC event at a Hooters restaurant. When everyone got back to the house, a drunken Anthony Gutierrez got under the skin of his housemates and kept them up. Gutierrez has established himself as the fighter that irritates his peers the most.
Girl stuff
A self-described girly girl, Julianna Pena gave Pennington and sportsnet.ca TUF blogger Sarah Moras makeovers one day when the fighters were bored. Sufficed to say Moras and Pennington are more comfortable in the gym hitting pads than they are walking the runway.
Fight selection
Team Tate regained control of fight section and chose for Canadian Josh Hill to take on England’s Michael Wootten in the sixth preliminary fight of the season.
On the next episode
On Father’s Day, Rousey visits TUF house to drop off presents to the dads, but Cody Bollinger struggles with homesickness. Then Hill and Wooten battle for a spot in the semis.
