Background
Raquel Pennington grew up playing many sports from basketball, softball, volleyball, running cross country, to always wanting to box.
Raquel Pennington grew up playing many sports from basketball, softball, volleyball, running cross country, to always wanting to box.
She graduated from Harrison High School (Colorado Springs) in 2007 as secretary of the National Honors Society, with many athletic and academic scholarships.
She has previously fought for Invicta Fighting Championships. She never played sports on a collegiate level due to a broken back. Pennington took an academic Scholarship to the University of Colorado Colorado Springs for pre-medical in hopes to continue her education at medical school and eventually become a doctor.
Early career
She fought in amateur Mobile Marketing Association from 2009 to 2011, amassing a record of 7 wins and 1 loss with five of those wins by submission.
Her professional debut was in March 2012, a TKO victory against Kim Couture. Invicta Fighting Championships
Pennington made her Invicta Fighting Championships promotional debut against future The Ultimate Fighter team mate Sarah Moras on July 28, 2012 at Invicta Football Club 2.
Her next two fights for the promotion were both losses. One to Cat Zingano at Invicta Football Club 3 and one to Leslie Smith at Invicta Football Club 4.
The Ultimate Fighter
She defeated veteran Tonya Evinger via submission due to a guillotine choke in the first round and was the third female pick of Team Tate.
Raquel Pennington faced Jessamyn Duke in the elimination round. Pennington defeated Duke via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) and the performance earned both participants Fight of The Season honors. Prior to the fight, Pennington damaged her hand but was still able to fight.
She lost a unanimous decision to Rakoczy (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).
Ultimate Fighting Championship
Pennington made her promotional debut against TUF 18 team mate Roxanne Modafferi on November 30, 2013 at The Ultimate Fighter 18 Finale. Foreign her second fight with the promotion, Pennington replaced an injured Julianna Peña against Jéssica Andrade on March 15, 2014 at UFC 171.
She lost the back-and-forth fight via split decision. Pennington was scheduled to face Holly Holm at UFC 181 on December 6, 2014.
However, Holm pulled out of the fight in mid-November, citing a neck injury.
Holm was replaced by UFC newcomer Ashlee Evans-Smith. She became the 4th fighter in UFC history to finish a fight with that move. Pennington fought Holly Holm at UFC 184 on February 28, 2015, a bout that was originally supposed to take place at UFC 181.
She lost the fight via split decision.
Pennington was set to take on Liz Carmouche at UFC 191. Carmouche was then replaced by former opponent Jéssica Andrade.
Pennington is of Mexican descent and openly lesbian. Ultimate Fighting Championship
The Ultimate Fighter 18 Fight of the Season versus
Jessamyn Duke
Performance of the Night (One time) versus
Jéssica Andrade.
In August 2013, Pennington was announced as a cast member of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rousey versus Team Tate.