Raquel Pennington to be sidelined much of 2017 following surgery
Raquel Pennington to be sidelined much of 2017 following surgery
Following the biggest win of her career at UFC 205 in Madison Square Garden, Raquel Pennington will need to take some time off. The number five ranked UFC women’s bantamweight retired former champion Miesha Tate after winning a unanimous decision, but now following a recent shoulder operation Pennington will find herself sitting on the sidelines.
Pennington recently told ESPN that she has been “feeling things” in her right shoulder for quite some time.
Pennington said that she barely felt like throwing her right hand in the Tate fight due to the issues with her shoulder.
She then began helping Ronda Rousey with preparation for the Amanda Nunes fight and felt that she needed to do something sooner rather than later.
Pennington opted for surgery, but it ended up being more extensive than expected, so she’ll be spending much of 2017 on the shelf, rehabbing.
“They thought it was a torn labrum, but when the doctor went inside it ended up being a torn bicep,” Pennington told ESPN. “They had to cut the bicep and anchor it to my bone. They also cleaned up my rotator cuff and labrum while they were in there.
“The recovery and everything is the same, with it being a torn bicep. It’s just going to take some time to heal. They’ve told me six to nine months. In six months, I should be back on the mats, full blown.”
