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Raquel Pennington
The co-main event in Toronto features a bantamweight title fight between two women who are familiar with kicks and their associated counters.
Initially hailing from the Chute Boxe team in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Mayra Bueno Silva stepped onto the UFC scene with a fully-fledged muay Thai game in tow.
Traditionally plodding through space behind a high guard, Silva seems to have a natural aptitude for the art of eight limbs.
From distance, Silva does well at working her ranges by consistently targeting the legs and body of her opposition. And when opponents try to push back into her with offense, Silva is not shy about throwing crashing counters to meet them in the pocket.
When feeling in stride, Silva will pull out spinning elbows and sidekicks with some surprising accuracy, but the Brazilian arguably does her best work in the clinch. Aside from hard elbows to the face, Silva compliments her bodywork at range by landing brutal body knees any time she has the space or control of a collar tie.
That said, Silva will have a competent clinch striker across from her this Saturday in Raquel Pennington.
Despite her submission victories, many associate Pennington with her striking abilities after her performance against Jessamyn Duke on “The Ultimate Fighter.”
A smart but scrappy fighter by nature, Pennington will come forward without hesitation, leaning on her feints, footwork and the occasional Superman punch to enter space. Though her teep kicks can often initiate exchanges, it is Pennington’s jab that often pays her bills on the feet.
Varying her timing and tempo, Pennington will utilize her jab in multiple ways.
Whether Pennington is using her jab to set up combinations or applying it in a checking fashion as she exits exchanges, the 35-year-old challenger maintains a solid sense of herself when operating inside the pocket. From counter right hands to her patent uppercut-hook returns, Pennington also does a decent job of punctuating exchanges.
Whenever inside of clinch space, Pennington demonstrates improved defensive fundamentals that help fuel her sensibilities to stay busy with dirty boxing in close. That said, I am not sure how long she will want to stay in that space given the submission prowess of Silva.
