Amanda Nunes def. Raquel Pennington at UFC 224: Best photos

view 22 images

RIO DE JANEIRO – Amanda Nunes expressed her disappointment in how Raquel Pennington’s corner failed to oblige her request to end the UFC 224 main event following the fourth round of action.

After taking a beating over 20 minutes, Pennington (9-6 MMA, 6-3 UFC) walked to her corner prior to the final round of the women’s bantamweight championship fight with Nunes (16-4 MMA, 9-1 UFC) at Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro and said she was “done.” A cornerman implored Pennington to keep going, and once the fifth round began she was quickly mauled into a bloody stoppage by the champ.

The situation immediately generated a swell of outrage from the MMA community. The majority believed Pennington’s corner committed a significant mistake that led to an onslaught of unnecessary damage, and Nunes agreed with that assessment post-fight.

Twitter reacts to Amanda Nunes' dominant TKO title defense vs. Raquel Pennington at UFC 224

Nunes, 29, said she didn’t know about everything that had happened before returning to the locker room after her successful title defense. She was not pleased by how things played out, though, especially considering her tight relationship with Pennington.

“It’s sad,” Nunes told reporters, including MMAjunkie, through an interpreter at the UFC 224 post-fight news conference. “(My girlfriend) Nina (Ansaroff) told me. I didn’t even know. Nina told me in the locker room. It’s sad because you could avoid something. She went to the hospital. It might be a bad injury for her to go to the hospital. I already asked Nina to text her – if she needs anything I’m here. It’s sad.

“If she didn’t have the right conditioning to fight then the coach should have thrown in the towel for sure. I think my coach wouldn’t let me go through that. It’s sad. Everyone must be saying a lot of bad things about him on social media, but I really think she needs to surround herself with people who want the best for her so she can really evolve for her next fights. Unfortunately, tonight (the cornerman) failed.”

The events leading up to the end of the fight between Nunes and Pennington is not the first time the role of a fighter’s corner has come into question. There are a minimal amount of instances throughout UFC history when a corner has intervened for a fighter, and even fewer after the athlete clearly asks to be pulled out of the bout.

Raquel Pennington wanted UFC 224 fight stopped after fourth, but corner talked her out of it

Although the exact extent of Pennington’s injuries coming out of UFC 224 are still unknown, the visible damage to her face indicated a potential broken nose, and perhaps even more.

Nunes preached the value of the relationship between fighters and their corners. She said Pennington’s team did not do its job at UFC 224, and that made her unhappy.

“He should have listened to her at that moment,” Nunes said. “It’s important to have that friendship with your coach and for the coach to understand the athlete. I think that’s why I bond so well with my coaches and it’s working out. I hope that right now, going forward, she can be with people that really understand. People that are with her 100 percent.”

For complete coverage of UFC 224, check out the UFC Events section of the site.