Dana White, Joe Rogan, and other UFC A-listers heavily disagree with Julianna Pena's win, says Raquel Pennington: "Nobody understood it"
Raquel Pennington has opened up about the judging in her recent fight against Julianna Pena and suggested that several A-list personalities in the UFC disagreed with the official scorecards.
'Rocky' asserted that UFC CEO Dana White, UFC CBO Hunter Campbell, and UFC commentators Joe Rogan, Jon Anik, and Daniel Cormier reached out to her about it.
In the UFC 307 co-headlining match on Oct. 5, 2024, Pennington put her UFC women's bantamweight championship on the line against former divisional ruler Pena. Their back-and-forth fight witnessed 'The Venezuelan Vixen' find some success in the grappling aspect, while Pennington appeared to have greater success in the striking.
Pennington seemingly dazed her foe with a head kick and secured a knockdown courtesy of a huge right hand. Pena managed to survive till the final bell. Ultimately, Judge Derek Cleary had it 48-47 for Pennington. Sal D'Amato and Mike Bell scored it 48-47 for Pena, giving the latter the split decision win and crowning her as the new women's bantamweight champion.
Speaking to MMA Fighting's Mike Heck, Raquel Pennington pointed out that she and UFC legend Jose Aldo were among the multiple fighters who were adversely affected by purportedly undesirable judging at UFC 307. Notably, during the post-fight press conference, Dana White lambasted the "atrocious" judging at the event.
Pennington indicated that the judges don't seem to realize what they're doing, yet they're the ones with the best seats in the house and are supposed to be doing the best job. She further alluded to how the vast majority of social media outlets scored the fight in her favor. The 36-year-old stated:
"You have competitive fights, they go to the decisions, and it just takes that one person to take away everything from somebody."
Pennington added:
"You know, I've had numerous top athletes reach out to me. I've had Dana White, freakin Hunter, Joe Rogan, Jon Anik, 'DC,' like everybody who's sitting right there, and they're just like, no way. Like, we don't understand this. Nobody understood it. I didn't understand it. Like, it was, I mean, they had my family lined up, ready to come in there. And then, when they announced it, they were like, 'Is [UFC announcer] Bruce [Buffer] like, playing a joke here?' Like, it was just, it was all really weird."
Check out Raquel Pennington's comments below:
Watch Raquel Pennington's complete interview below (*comments about the verdict at 5:00):
Raquel Pennington on potential Julianna Pena rematch, possible title clash with Kayla Harrison
Over the years, Julianna Pena has faced criticism from certain sections of the MMA community for competing infrequently. During the aforementioned interview, Raquel Pennington alluded to it, emphasizing that Pena "tends to sit around forever."
Presently, the belief is that Pena will attempt to defend her bantamweight belt against Kayla Harrison next. Speaking of which, Pennington underscored that though she'd like a rematch against Pena, she feels the true title fight would be between her and Harrison:
"I definitely want the rematch and stuff. But at the end of the day, I feel like the real world title fight comes from me and Kayla." [comments at the interview's 8:00-minute mark]