Raquel Pennington returned to the win colum on Saturday night, defeating Marion Reneau by unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs Volkov. The No. 6-ranked Pennington, a former bantamweight title contender, has had a rough go at it of late, entering her match against the No. 10-ranked Reneau with a 1-3 record. Of course, those losses came against some high-caliber competition in Holly Holm, Germain de Randamie, and Amanda Nunes. While Reneau is a top-10 bantamweight fighter, Pennington was seemingly one step ahead all night.
Reneau was active with the jab early on in the fight, but Pennington relied on clinches to get close and land knees inside. The end of the frame ended with a bit of a ground battle as both fighters jockeyed for position.
The second round was more of the same — exchanges and counters followed by clinches and knees by both fighters. The fight was temporarily halted early on in the round when Reneau accidentally landed a low knee on Pennington. The action resumed after a short break and both fighters got to work again.
Perhaps sensing the fight was close, Pennington put together a solid third round. "Rocky" steadily worked threw the round and her high volume of strikes helped earn her a unanimous decision victory (30-28, 29-28 x2).
It was a much-needed win for Pennington who is now 2-1 in her past three fights as she looks to continue to climb the bantamweight rankings. She now has eight wins in the bantamweight division, second most in UFC history behind only Amanda Nunes.