Raquel Pennington has a new challenge ahead of her UFC 307 title fight against Julianna Pena.
Pennington (16-8) will defend the women’s bantamweight title against Pena (11-5) in the co-main event of UFC 307 on October 5th at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. When ‘Rocky’ won the vacant title against Mayra Bueno Silva at UFC 297 in January, his wife Tecia Pennington (13-7) took care of their daughter Alaya Rose during fight camp. I was doing it. Then, when Teshia dropped a split decision against Tabitha Ricci in May, “Rocky” was there to return the favor.
However, both partners will share the card for UFC 307, with Tesia facing former champion Carla Esparza (19-7) in the early preliminaries. With both children in camp, the Penningtons have had to deal with the challenges of caring for their daughter, who is just over a year old. However, “Rocky” is grateful for the support system around him that made the camp go smoothly.
“The new challenge was Teshia, and she’s obviously on the same card,” Pennington told MMA Junkie. “That was my idea. She hates it. So if you talk to Tesia, that’s one thing. When I fought for a world title, it was my first fight as a mother, Tecia She ended up holding the fort, and she fought over Mother’s Day weekend, and I ended up holding the fort. So now we’re both camping, facing a new challenge. And we learned that the true definition of raising a child really takes a village. So I’m very grateful to my family, my best friends. It’s been 100% great through this. Our daughter, she’s been getting through all of this little by little. Everything has gone so smoothly.”
UFC 307: Pereira vs. Rountree Jr. Saturday at 10 a.m. ET on ESPN+. Order now!
They share a card, but Raquel made sure neither is in each other’s corner.
Esparza and Pennington first met on Season 20 of The Ultimate Fighter in 2014, when Cookie Monster won by majority decision. Esparza confirmed he will be riding into the sunset after UFC 307. Many believe that “Tiny Tornado” could also retire after UFC 307, considering Teshia’s loss to Ricci in his return after a two-year hiatus. But Raquel admits there’s still a lot left in his wife.
“This is just another battle for her. There’s a lot more to Teesia… She’s still ready to become that little tornado.”
