The world’s most famous mixed martial arts promotion hosted a stunning night of fights over the weekend. However, the fight card did not go without its controversies. Now UFC fighters have come forward with their thoughts.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Saturday, May 12, to host the highly anticipated fight card of UFC 224. From inside the Jeunesse Arena, the live pay-per-view event featured a series of exciting match ups.
In the night’s main event, UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes successfully defended her title from rising challenger Raquel Pennington. In between the fourth and final rounds, Pennington informed her corner that she was “done.”
However, the fighter’s corner convinced her to continue the fight for the final round. In the end, Pennington suffered a TKO loss to the reigning champion.
Check out what many fighters had to say within the social media messages below:
This the kind of shit I was talking about on #JRE this MMA cornering is out of control.She asked for a way out and they make her go get beat
— Kevin MTP Lee (@MoTownPhenom) May 13, 2018
Raquel’s team most definitely knows how tough she is given all she’s been through with her injuries that have kept her out of the octagon.
For them to send her out for the 5th round when she says she’s done is complete negligence on their part and selfish as fuck.
— Michael Chiesa (@MikeMav22) May 13, 2018
Hard to say what the corner should have done.
A fighter as tough as Pennington ain’t gonna ask to quit unless it’s BAD. Like really hurting, BAD. And if they’re already broke, they might get SERIOUSLY career-changing hurt by going back in. But the last round of a title fight…— Lauren Murphy (@LaurenMurphyMMA) May 13, 2018
@RockyPMMA has enough heart for any 10 regular fighters.
— Ryan Hall (@ryanhall5050) May 13, 2018
Fair point. Not sure it applies to Pennington and her coaches because I bet they’re very close, but that is a VERY good point https://t.co/BPGzAJY52q
— Lauren Murphy (@LaurenMurphyMMA) May 13, 2018
Correction, I said I was done with fighting after the fight concluded not during the fight or between rounds. https://t.co/DiMLyW02ku
— Miesha Tate (@MieshaTate) May 13, 2018
This is incredibly uncomfortable to watch. “We’ll recover later”? What? And throughout this no technical advice is shared. Just a pep talk and a refusal to listen to their fighter. Pennington, who is the epitome of a fighter, deserves better than this. https://t.co/WONNOWHWzN
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) May 13, 2018
