Raquel Pennington resorted to 'drastic measures' to make weight for UFC 191

Raquel Pennington made a huge statement at UFC 191, submitting favored Jessica Andrade with a second round rear-naked choke. While the fight played out the way she wanted, the path to get to the fight was a rocky one.

Pennington (6-5 MMA, 3-2 UFC) said the bout, which took place on the FOX Sports 1-televised preliminary card from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, was the first stop on her “revenge tour,” her plan to avenge losses to women who’d previously beaten her, as Andrade (13-5 MMA, 4-3 UFC) had by split decision at UFC 171.

“It didn’t exactly go how I expected it to,” Pennington told MMAjunkie following her victory. “You know, it’s a fight. You can’t really say how it’s going to go. I thought it would end a lot more with my hands. The weight cut was pretty draining for me (on Friday). That played a big part tonight. But, I mean, it’s MMA. I train all around. Just like my last fight with Ashlee Evans-Smith, it was another submission.”

Pennington had a long journey just getting back to the cage. She was originally set to face Leslie Smith at UFC 192 before an injury to Smith canceled the bout. Pennington was then scheduled to face Liz Carmouche at UFC 191, but Carmouche pulled out of that bout and Andrade stepped up to take the rematch.

Once she had an opponent locked down, the struggle became making weight for the bout.

“You know, when it comes to that part, your body is going to get drained,” Pennington said. “This is a crazy physical sport, but it’s where it comes from in here. it takes a lot of heart in this sport. I think that’s what played a big part tonight. I went to desperate measures (at weigh-ins). I chopped off some of my hair for weight.”

The other benefit to being able to stay on the card was that Pennington had the rare chance to fight on a card which took place on her birthday. Additionally, Pennington’s dad was in attendance for the first time in her entire athletic career.

Check out the full video above.

And for complete coverage of UFC 191, check out the UFC Events section of the site.