UFC 224's Raquel Pennington on why she wanted to smack Colby Covington at press conference

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – UFC women’s bantamweight title challenger Raquel Pennington didn’t mope or celebrate when UFC 224’s originally scheduled co-headliner between Colby Covington and Rafael dos Anjos was moved to UFC 225.

Covington’s (13-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC participation arguably would’ve given UFC 224 a big boost in attention, given his war of words with Brazilians in advance of the event. Instead, his fight was moved to UFC 225. Security was a factor in the move.

Pennington (9-5 MMA, 6-2 UFC), though, wasn’t invested in the drama in advance of her title fight against champ Amanda Nunes (15-4 MMA, 8-1 UFC).

“You know, I’m not about that, so I don’t really care about the added attention, the hostility, and quite frankly, the press conference was a little annoying yesterday,” she said backstage at UFC 223, where she served as a guest fighter at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. “I wanted to smack him in the back of the head.”

During a press conference promoting the UFC’s spring and summer schedule, Covington amped up his usual troll routine, throwing shots at dos Anjos (28-9 MMA, 17-7 UFC) and bickering with Kamaru Usman (12-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC), who’s scheduled to headline UFC Fight Night 128.

Sitting beside Covington on the dais, Pennington tired quickly of the schtick. Her general opinion on it doesn’t differ much.

“I just find it unncessary,” she said. “But to each his own, and that’s the macho talk coming out of the guy, so whatever.”

Pennington has no grudge against her upcoming opponent, UFC women’s bantamweight champion Nunes, and that’s fine heading into the May 12 pay-per-view event at Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro.

“At the end of the day, it’s a sport. We both have a very competitive side. But I’ve always been a humble person, and I don’t see the need to do a bunch of (expletive)-talking. Once that cage door closes, it’s not going to change what happens.”

For more on UFC 224, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.