This past weekend at UFC Vegas 106, we saw a strawweight matchup kick things off on the prelims. In that matchup, Tecia Pennington (15-7) took on Luana Pinheiro (11-5). Pennington was able to win the fight by decision which was her second win in a row.
Afterwards when speaking to the media, Pennington made it clear that she still eyes being a champion in the strawweight division. She also made an emotional plea to get higher ranked competition and I see where she is coming from given her history in the strawweight division.
In the latest rankings update, Pennington didn’t move with her decision win on Saturday night and she’s ranked 13th in the division. Personally, I would have her 12th or 11th especially considering she has a unanimous decision win over Angela Hill who is ranked ahead of her currently.
Pennington has been the victim of some serious misfortune when it comes to decisions. Back in May 2022, Pennington lost a split decision to Mackenzie Dern in a fight where I thought she won. Had she won that fight, it would’ve been her fourth win in a row. Following that loss, Pennington took time away from the UFC to become a mom.
She returned in May 2024 to take on Tabatha Ricci and it was the same story. She lost a very close split decision that I had her winning along with half the media. Both of those fights could’ve gone either way, but she drew the short end of the stick in both fights. Since those two losses, she’s won two fights in a row. Had those decisions gone her way, she’d be looking at a seven-fight win streak.
Back in 2018, Pennington was 10-1 with her lone loss coming against Rose Namajunas. She lost four fights in a row after that but here’s who she lost to: Jessica Andrade, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Zhang Weili, and Marina Rodriguez. Outside of Rodriguez, she had only lost to UFC champions before her losses to Dern and Ricci. In my opinion, Pennington is one of the more underrated top contenders in the promotion given her success and the fact that she’s only lost to the best.
In terms of what’s next for her, I completely agree that she deserves a step up in terms of ranked competition. I really like the idea of her being potentially matched up with Loopy Godinez. It’s a fresh matchup for both and whoever wins would be looking at a top ten opponent in their next fight.