Raquel Pennington improves win streak to five-straight, edges no. 2 ranked Ketlen Vieira on the cards at UFC Vegas 67
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, January 14, 2023, for UFC Vegas 67, going down live from the UFC Apex in Enterprise, Nevada.
Headlining the event is a light-heavyweight bout between no. 7 ranked middleweight contender Sean Strickland (25-5) and no. 12 ranked middleweight contender Nassourdine Imavov (12-3).
Imavov was initially slated to face no. 13 ranked Kelvin Gastelum, however, Gastelum has been forced from the bout with a tooth injury and was replaced by Strickland five days ago.
Co-headlining the event is a featherweight matchup between no. 13 ranked Dan Ige (15-6) and Damon Jackson (22-4-1-1).
Our second bout on the main card tonight came in the women’s bantamweight division between no. 2 ranked Ketlen Vieira (13-2) and no. 5 ranked Raquel Pennington (14-8).
Vieira came in on a two-fight win streak, having defeated former champions Miesha Tate and Holly Holm over her last two outings while Pennington won her last four-straight, the latter two victories coming over Macy Chiasson and Aspen Ladd.
Continue reading to see how this bantamweight clash went down:
Official Result: Raquel Pennington def. Ketlen Vieira via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Vieira is doing a good job at keeping Pennington at the end of her range throughout the first round. She’s making Pennington miss for the most part, she’s using her heavy-handed boxing prowess, and she’s mixing some leg kicks in there well.
Pennington is able to get into range to land hard punches on a couple occasions however, bringing the striking totals to 26-25 in favor of her after five minutes.
Pennington presses the action more in the second and is able to find her range much better, landing a number of hard punches in the middle and at the end of her boxing combinations.
Both women have success in the third and final five minutes, with each of them landing a lot of heavy punches. They trade time controlling the other on the side of the octagon as well, though Vieira ended up getting the better of that battle when it was said and done.
This was a close one.
After winning a razor-thin split decision over Holly Holm in her most outing back in May of last year, Ketlen Vieira didn’t quite do enough to get another, as she falls to 13-3 tonight at UFC Vegas 67.
Raquel Pennington on the other hand has had a real remarkable career resurgence as of late. After going 2-2 to start her UFC tenure, she’d win her next four-straight, improving to 9-5 with the most recent victory over former champion Miesha Tate, going into her title shot against Amanda Nunes.
Following defeat to Nunes, Pennington would go 1-2 over her next three outings, bringing her to 10-8 as a professional. She has since won her last five-straight fights, bringing her record to 15-8. Just incredible.
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