Raquel Pennington interview at TUF 18 Finale Media Day: transcript

Key points

• Pennington says fans don't realize what fighters go through, citing a 10-day gap between fights and recovering from injuries before preparing again.
• She says she prefers to be a well-rounded MMA fighter rather than just box against a pro boxer.
• She calls her fight with Jessamyn a war and says the first co-ed season has given women a great opportunity.
• She had her stitches taken out before the next fight because she did not feel comfortable with them and would make the same choice again.
• She is excited that all the women from the season, except two injured fighters, will fight on the finale.
• She trains at Altitude MMA in Colorado Springs, with Mark Fiore as head coach, and says she feels ready and comfortable.

Chapters

1. 0:04Preparing after a 10-day turnaround between fights
2. 1:04The first co-ed season and the war with Jessamyn
3. 1:49Removing the stitches before the next fight
4. 2:22All the women getting a fight on the finale
5. 2:53Invicta experience, training camp and corner team
6. 3:53Octagon nerves before her debut

Full transcript

0:04Hey, Heidi Fang for MMA Fight Corner with Raquel Pennington, women's semi-finalist, and we find out in just a few hours what happened with your fight. You have a tough test with Jessica Rakowski. We know that you've already had that experience, but what can you tell us about the things leading up to that fight coming up on tonight's show? You know, leading into the fight with Jessica, I mean, I think a lot of people just, I don't think they realize exactly what the fighters go through, you know? And, I mean, I had a 10-day period in between fights.

0:34And just to go through the injuries and stuff that I sustained with Jessamyn, it was really hard to sit there and figure out how to start to recover from that physically and then turn around and prepare emotionally and mentally again. But, I mean, all in all, this is what we do. This is what I chose to do. And so, you know, I don't think it's so much of a smart decision where I'm going to go into a fight against a pro boxer and just sit there and try to box. It's MMA, and so I choose to be more well-rounded. I think with the fight with Jessica though, it'll be a good fight.

1:04With Jessamyn, where she's concerned, you guys literally had a war on top. I mean, that was one of the best fights. What does it mean to you being in the first co-ed season? And to put on such a show that way that the fans are able to see you in that light, that you can put on wars and go to battle. It's been amazing with the season having the men and women. It's given us women a great opportunity and the fact that me and Jessamyn Being compared to, like, the Forrest Griffin and Stefan Bonner fight, I mean, that just set something for us women, you know? The fight with Jessamyn, it was definitely a war. That's just the way to explain it. I don't know. I think it was just a great opportunity overall to keep pushing.

1:49I understand. I was reading one of your blogs that you actually had decided to take out the stitches that you got in that fight with Jessamyn before your fight with Jessica. Looking back, do you think that was a good or bad choice? With the stitches, I think it was my first time ever having stitches, so I was a little nervous to begin with. And when they wanted me to keep the stitches in, I was just like, you know, I don't feel comfortable with that. I didn't feel comfortable knowing that maybe it can just get past something, and all of a sudden it just rips open, my eye starts bleeding. I would just rather, if it's going to bleed and open again, I'd rather take it for a punch or whatever.

2:22So I wouldn't change it. I would stick with that choice. And also they announced during the conference call that was just this week that all of the women from the season, with the exception of Shaina and Sarah, who are both injured, that all of the women will get a fight on the finale. How excited were you to hear that news? It's more than exciting. I think there's been so many women for all these years putting in the work, and I think this is finally our chance to deserve the spot, the same thing that the men do. So to have that opportunity to be able to fight on the finale, I mean, it's just, it's going to be great.

2:53It's going to be a great experience, and I think the fans are going to love it. Also, you've had time with Invicta FC before you were into the Ultimate Fighter. How did that experience maybe help prepare you for going into the Octagon for the first time? With Invicta, it was a great opportunity for me to kind of go through and feel how the media thing would be, how it would be fighting on a big promotion with a bigger crowd and everything. as I said on one of my interviews or one of the episodes I'm a little stage fright and stuff so that was good preparing me for that to what's to come with everything that we've been doing for the Ultimate Fighter and now with UFC. And where is it that you train? Who will you have cornering you for the fight when you come to the finale on Saturday? I train out of Altitude MMA in Colorado Springs Colorado. My head coach is Mark Fiore and then I will have my cousin Tommy Gonzalez who's like my comfort been with me from the beginning of all this and then another coach Gabe Vallejos. And do you feel like any nerves about octagon

3:53jitters so to speak or anything like that or has it quite hit you yet? It hasn't totally hit me I think overall I've had this opportunity to really prepare myself mentally and physically and emotionally so I'm just overall excited I feel really comfortable with everything and just excited ready to rock and roll. We look forward to seeing you and your debut here this Saturday. Thank you Raquel.

Source and licence

Recording: File:TUF 18 Finale Media Day with Raquel Pennington.webm by MMA Fight - Official (2014-05-26), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY 3.0.

The transcript is machine speech-to-text by the TidyTools Audio & video transcriber; the summary, key points and chapters were written by Claude from that transcript. Both may contain errors: check the recording before quoting it.