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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
"Everybody's sitting here saying [Holly Holm's] a phenomenal stand up fighter, so the ultimate goal would be to knock out Holly Holm. Or a nice finish the same way I finished Ashley Evans Smith... You know it's completely exciting [to be fighting her]. I feel like all the hard work is finally paid off and I mean this a fight that I definitely asked for. A lot of people - I mean they give Holly a ton of credit, she's riding a huge hype train, and I feel like she's just kind of coming into my home and she hasn't truly been tested with another elite athlete and female that's been in the UFC. I feel like she's kind of overlooking past everybody and just trying to jump to that title shot... I mean Holly she's great at her stand up and stuff, but I'm also not scared to box with her. I mean I'm not going to sit here and say 'box' with her. It's different in MMA compared to boxing, so I'm not going to be scared to brawl with her, as well as wrestle or go to the ground. I mean I feel comfortable in all areas. I'm constantly training that and constantly progressing in every aspect of the sport. We bring in girls from everywhere. I mean I have phenomenal teammates. I've been working with the USA wrestlers, Olympians, and I mean it's just been phenomenal. So I really don't care where the fight goes."
-UFC 184's Raquel Pennington talks to Submission Radio about her matchup with Holly Holm this weekend in Los Angeles.
Penick's Analysis: Pennington's got a major opportunity here to pick up what would be the biggest win of her career. She's not expected to win this fight, so if she comes in with the upset it makes a major statement for her. She had a nice win in her last outing with that sick bulldog choke win over Ashlee Evans-Smith, and her grappling could give her some slight edge, but the difficult part will come if she does think she can succeed on the feet. That's not a smart strategy to employ, so this will come down to what she winds up trying to do on Saturday night.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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