TUF 18 Finale Play-by-Play: Roxanne Modafferi vs. Raquel Pennington

TUF 18 Finale Live Results Home Page

Roxanne Modafferi vs. Raquel Pennington

Round 1: Pennington takes the center of the cage. Modafferi lands an outside leg kick.  Pennington steps in with a right hand.  Modafferi dictating the pace early.  Pennington delivers a hard outside leg kick.  Modafferi lands a combination.  Pennington answers with a right hand.  Modafferi throwing strikes in volume.  She’s mixing up her attack and keeping Pennington on the outside.  Pennington steps in with a right hand.  Modafferi landds a combination.  Pennington fires back, landing a right hand.  Modafferi misses with a spinning back fist.  Pennington lands a right hand.  Modafferi answers with a combination.  They clinch.  Modafferi presses Pennington against the cage.  She lands an elbow and backs away.  Pennington lands a hard right hand at the bell.  MMAWeekly scores the round 10-9 for Modafferi.

Round 2:  Penning comes out firing in the second.  Modafferi ties up and works for a takedown.  She gets it but Pennington immediately gets back to her feet.  Modafferi moves forward.  Pennington lands a combination and Modaferri tries to take her down.  Pennington stuffs the attempt.  Modafferi works a high guard.  Pennington postures up and lands a right hand.  Modafferi works for an arm bar.  Pennington defends the submission attempt.  Pennington stands over Modafferi but doesn’t let her up.  The referee stands her up.  Modafferi circles to her left.  Pennington lands an inside leg kick.  Pennington steps in with a stiff left hand.  Modafferi looks to have slowed.  She clinches and they exchange knees to the body.  Pennington presses forward.  The round ends.  MMAWeekly scores the round 10-9 for Pennington.

Round 3: Modafferi goes back to using a volume of strikes to keep Pennington on the outside.  She drops down for a takedown but Pennington stuffs it.  Pennington presses forward.  She lands a left hand followed by a right.  Modafferi clinches.  She lands a knee to the body.  Pennington muscles her around and pushes her away.  Pennington lands a right hand and Modafferi looks to get the fight to the ground.  Pennington sprawls and gains top position.  Pennington delivers hard punches to the body of Modafferi.  Modafferi works a high guard.  Pennington gets out and lands more hard shots to the body.  Pennington lands a left hand.  Modafferi is active on the bottom but unable to find an angle.  Modaferri stands.  Pennington applies a guillotine choke.    She drops down to the ground to lock it in.  It’s deep.  Modafferi won’t tap.  The bell sounds ending the round.  MMAWeekly scores the round 10-9 for Pennington.

The judges scored the fight for Pennington by unanimous decision.  The scorecards read 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28.

QUOTES

Roxanne Modafferi
“I most grateful for the support of my coaches, fans, family and friends.  I feel all their energy when I fight and I wanted to win for them.  My hope is that they get to see my fight again because they are all so important to me.”

Raquel Pennington
“I’m happy with the win, but knowing my capabilities I didn’t fight my best fight.  I wasn’t happy because I have very fast hands and I didn’t really display those.  Maybe it was because of my nerves.  I mean, when I woke up I was incredibly nervous.  Then when I started warming up, I felt better and by the time I got in the Octagon, it felt no different than being in my gym at home.”

SCORECARDS

TUF 18 Finale Live Results Home Page