Toronto – Newly crowned UFC bantamweight champion Raquel Pennington has her sights set on her first title defense after her title win at UFC 297 on Saturday night.
“That’s the fight that makes sense. I honestly thought for the world title it would be me an Julianna (Peña) but she’s still injured. That relationship just goes back to 2013 when we were both on The Ultimate Fighter,” Pennington told reporters including Cageside Press at her post-fight scrum.
“Let’s just say I learned Julianna’s personality then and it’s kind of one of those ones that you’re your own person. You stay your way and I stay mine, but you get under my damn skin and I’ve been waiting for that fight for 13 years whether the title’s on the line or not.”
UFC CEO Dana White mentioned that while Peña is the logical next one up that it’ll depend on her health whether or not she fights for the title next.
“Honestly I really don’t care. There’s talent in this division. Everybody brings a challenge people are constantly growing and evolving. I do want to stay active,” she said.
“I’m getting older and stuff too and we have our family now and we want to continue to build on that. It’s just kind of finding balance in between everything. I would like to defend the title a couple times and then that’s a wrap for me.”
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Raquel Pennington above.
