UFC 224: The best and worst

#1 Worst: Raquel Pennington’s poor corner work

Raquel Pennington's corner may have let her take too much punishment

One of the most worrying things about MMA is the seeming reluctance from cornermen to throw in the towel when their fighter is clearly beaten.

This probably comes from the fact that no fight seems to be over until it’s actually over. We saw an incredible comeback from Jack Hermansson to beat Thales Leites on Saturday in fact, but sometimes, it simply leads to a fighter taking far more of a beating than they should necessarily take.

This was definitely the case in the main event at this weekend’s show. Challenger Raquel Pennington went back to her corner after the 4th round clearly a beaten fighter, no offense intended.

She even appeared to tell her corner “I’m done”, and the likelihood of her pulling off a miraculous comeback against Amanda Nunes, who was clearly the superior fighter in all areas, seemed very slim.

Despite this though, Pennington’s corner sent her back out for the 5th, with coach Jason Kutz telling her to “change her mindset and throw everything you’ve got”.

Of course, the advice didn’t work and Pennington took a further 19 significant strikes before referee Marc Goddard called a stop to the fight midway through the final round.

Why Pennington had to take more punishment is anyone’s guess. I understand the mindset of a corner feeling their fighter could still win, but sometimes, like we saw at UFC 223 with Joe Lauzon’s corner, it’s better to walk away and fight another day. More cornermen ought to consider this.