January 23, 2024 11:20 am ET
Daniel Cormier believes Raquel Pennington could have put Mayra Bueno Silva away at UFC 297.
Pennington (16-8 MMA, 13-5 UFC) defeated Bueno Silva (10-3-1 MMA, 5-3-1 UFC) by unanimous decision to capture the vacant women’s bantamweight title in this past Saturday’s co-main event. Bueno Silva slowed down significantly throughout the fight, allowing Pennington to take top control on the ground, and Cormier thinks Pennington should have capitalized against an exhausted Bueno Silva.
“This fight was odd because it felt like Raquel could finish Mayra Bueno Silva,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “It felt like if she broke away from her and allowed for her or made her stand and trade with her, she could finish her.
“But, as she said inside the octagon, she was so close that she could feel it, that it was win at all costs and I mean, I can’t blame her. I can’t blame her. I know how taxing and how mentally challenging it is to try and become a UFC champion.”
Bueno Silva has far fewer UFC fights than Pennington, and Cormier said that was evident in her performance.
“Mayra Bueno Silva’s inexperience really showed in that fight,” Cormier said. “She was very tired very early. She expended way too much energy not only in the fight but in the build to the fight, because her expectation of the way it was supposed to play out was a tad bit unrealistic, and I think very quickly she was reminded that she was now fighting at a level that she had not competed at prior.”
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