Tabitha Rich and Teshia Pennington, UFC St. Louis weigh-in credit: Youtube/UFC
Tecia Pennington, formerly known as Torres, competed against Brazil’s Tabatha Ricci at UFC St. Louis on Saturday at Enterprise Center, making her first return to action since 2022 and first time since becoming a mother.
The strawweight bout was on the preliminary card and was a chance for Pennington, who is married to UFC women’s bantamweight champion Raquel Pennington, to re-enter the division she has been a mainstay of for years.
In the opening frame, the returning Pennington showed off a ton of hitting, and Ricci was happy to match his pace. Pennington landed nearly 100 strikes in the opening round, and her “Tiny Tornado” lived up to her name. It was a back-and-forth battle that mainly revolved around his feet, but Ricci landed a takedown just before the buzzer sounded.
In the second round, Ricci took action against the fence, looking for a dropdown for a takedown. This became something of a war of attrition, with neither fighter making much progress through the solid two-minute grapple. Even after briefly leaving the cage, Ricci returned to the cage to fight. While most of the round could have been seen as a contest of wills, or less favorably, a lot of walls and stalls, there was enough action to allow the referee to take action.
They returned to center at the last moment and finished with some memorable exchanges.
Again, just a minute into the third, Ricci struggled against the fence. Ricci uses an underhook and fights for position on his head, looking for a takedown that doesn’t go his way. This time Rich drives his hips and Pennington pushes his head down, mixing in some knees and short punches from him. Pennington at one point raised his left leg to fence and did his best to prevent a takedown. And she dodged it, and moments later the pair returned to the center.
In the final moments, Pennington bundled punches before briefly reversing a takedown and fought until the final horn. In the end, it was “Baby Shark” Rich who defeated the returning fighter with a split decision.
Official result: Tabitha Rich def. Teshia Pennington, split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
