Bantamweight contender Raquel Pennington recently recalled the leg injury that could’ve ended her career.
Pennington’s star was on the rise after she won the 18th edition of TUF. Her MMA career culminated with a bantamweight title shot against Amanda Nunes. Shortly after the bout received an official date Pennington was in an accident that endangered her career and her life.
Pennington broke her leg in a scary hunting accident, forcing her initial bout with Nunes to be canceled. The accident happened while she was riding an ATV down the mountain, the ATV flipped, with the motor pinning her leg down.
“I’ve never experienced—almost had my leg amputated, and me, emotionally, just rushed back in. I was nowhere near ready for that.” recalled Pennington.
“They rushed me to the hospital. Thank God for my tall hunting boots because it protected my leg from fully shattering, which if that happened I would have to get my lower leg amputated. Also, where my bone is broken is the main nerve to your foot; luckily, the feeling came back and I passed the test otherwise I would have [drop foot], never being able to control my foot again. My calf is totally smashed in.”
After such a severe injury, Raquel wasn’t sure she would ever be able to return to the octagon. But she was more than happy to receive a title shot after a lengthy lay off – she lost to Nunes via TKO.
“For me, that was a rough time”
“Coming back from an 18-month layoff, coming back from the injury I sustained in my leg and that nerve damage,”.
Nowadays Pennington would like to get a chance to run it back with Nunes or maybe even challenge Julianna Pena for the title.
“Honestly, (the Nunes loss) just stirred up the division, which I think gave a lot of excitement to all the other competitors in there,” noted Pennington. “A lot of people get kind of—the same way with Ronda (Rousey), no disrespect to anybody, they freakin’ do exactly what they needed to do, but it’s almost like, when you have one person who’s constantly winning, people start marking them as these invincible people.
“At the end of the day, they’re just people. They’re doing what they need to do, but everybody’s beatable,” continued Pennington. “I feel like, with Amanda losing, it was just that reminder to the division that she’s a human being and she’s beatable… As a competitor, I would love to redeem myself in that fight.”
Her MMA record stands at 14 wins and 8 losses. She’s looking to get back into action against current champion Julianna Pena.