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#3 Bantamweight: Raquel Pennington vs. Marion Reneau

Raquel Pennington was impressive in her 2019 win over Irene Aldana

It’s hard to say where these two Bantamweights are actually headed at this point. In all likelihood, they’re just looking to stay afloat in what is still one of the UFC’s thinner divisions. Neither has been on the best run as of late – Reneau hasn’t won a fight since February 2018, while Pennington is 1-3 in her last 4 – but despite that they’re still amongst the better female 135lbers in the world.

Reneau is an interesting case indeed. ‘The Belizean Bruiser’ is actually 42 years old and didn’t start fighting professionally until 2010. She emerged into the UFC in 2015 and largely used her athletic ability to move up the ranks, but her general lack of experience – she’s still only got 15 professional fights to her name – has often been her downfall.

Both of her last two losses – to Cat Zingano and Yana Kunitskaya – came largely because both veterans were able to stifle her explosive offense and outwork her for three rounds. So can Pennington carry out that kind of gameplan?

In all likelihood the answer is yes. ‘Rocky’ isn’t the most natural athlete in the promotion, but she’s ultra-tough, has well-rounded skills and is more than capable of grinding an opponent down. Since emerging into the UFC following a run on TUF, she’s only had four real losses, if you ignore a contentious decision loss to Jessica Andrade in 2014.

The big takeaway? All four of her losses – two to Holly Holm, one to Germaine de Randamie and one to Amanda Nunes – came in fights where she was outgunned by a far better technical striker. She had some limited success against Holm when she was able to draw a brawl, but there’s honestly no shame in being outpointed by any of them.

Outside of that though, she’s been perfect – and even managed to grind out the fast-rising Irene Aldana as recently as last July by using her clinch work, takedowns and strong defense – as well as her own heavy punches.

Can Reneau catch ‘Rocky’ in a nasty submission, or even manage to take her out with strikes? The first one is possible, but the second one feels less so given Pennington’s toughness. Throw in the fact that Pennington is adept at both working an opponent over from the clinch and also at getting them on the ground to land strikes, and I think it’s her fight to lose.

The Pick: Pennington via unanimous decision