Raquel Pennington Embracing the Emotions of First Title Shot at UFC 224

UFC 224 available for order on Amazon Prime (Prime Video PPV)

Raquel Pennington takes on the Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight queen Amanda Nunes for the title this Saturday at UFC 224.

Pennington (9-5) is riding a four fight winning streak going into the bout and this will be the first title shot of her career. Although she’ll have her hands full as she’s up against the heavy-handed champion in Nunes (15-4), who is in career-best form having won six straight with notable victories over Miesha Tate, Ronda Rousey and Valentina Shevchenko. “The Lioness” will attempt to defend her bantamweight title for the third straight fight against “Rocky.”

Pennington recently discussed MMAJunkie.com the emotional roller coaster she’s experienced while training for the fight and that she’ll be ready to go come Saturday night:

“I feel really confident about this fight. I just feel really confident in my skills and my abilities. I did a lot of soul-searching, I guess you can say, throughout this fight camp. I’ve probably experienced every emotion that you can probably think of. It’s been a long camp, but I kind of went back to my roots, and I thought about everything. I started this with a goal and a passion, and this is just one of the goals, and it still goes from here. At the end of the day, the nerves are going to come, but for me, it’s like I always say: When you’re feeling the nerves, it just means your body is ready and you’re excited.”

UFC 224 takes place inside the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, and also features a high-profile middleweight bout between Ronaldo Souza and Kelvin Gastelum.

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