UFC 224 results: Amanda Nunes stops Raquel Pennington in lopsided title fight

The UFC 224 main event saw the promotion’s bantamweight queen Amanda Nunes successfully defend her title by dispatching Raquel Pennington b TKO in the fifth round. Nunes was on point for the get-go, dropping her opponent with the very first kick she threw. Nunes executed a smart strategy, complete with leg kicks, punches, knees from the clinch, and takedowns. The gas tank of Nunes was impeccable as well, as she showed no signs of slowing down across each round. Nunes is now on a seven fight winning streak, and has really separated herself from the pack. Nunes vs. Cyborg anyone?

UFC 224 main event:

Amanda Nunes def. Raquel Pennington by TKO at 2:36 of round 5: (W) Bantamweight Title

The first kick that Nunes threw sent Pennington crashing to the canvas, but Rocky quickly stood back up. Nunes backed her opponent up to the fence, and again dropped her with a leg kick. Pennington seemed to be reacting to whatever Nunes was doing, instead of mounting some offense of her own. The lead leg of Pennington was all sorts of welted up from the kicks of Nunes.

Nunes again backed up her opponent to the fence to start the second frame, keeping Pennington reacting. Whenever Pennington would close the distance, Nunes would simply shuck her off and return to open space. Pennington did take the back of the champ and realize a takedown towards the end of the round, but Nunes stood back up and landed with the hands as the buzzer sounded.

Nunes landed another low leg kick, followed by a left hand, and as soon as Rocky moved forward to counter, the champ used the moment to pick up a takedown. The referee didn’t like what he saw so he stood up the athletes, to which Pennington attempted a takedown of her own, to no avail. The right hand of Pennington started to land a bit towards the end of the round, but none of which landed with the same sort of oomf as those of Nunes.

The low leg kick was revisited by Nunes in the fourth frame, and Pennington responded by backing up to the cage, as she did in the earlier rounds. Nunes scored another takedown on the challenger, but nothing much came of it. Rocky returned to her feet, but landed into the Thai clinch where she ate several stinging knees. Nunes starting picking up the pace, landing another big knee from clinch at the end of the round. Pennington could be heard telling her corner, “I’m done” after round 4, yet they sent her back out there.

More of the same was seen in the final round, Rocky backing up and getting tagged. Nunes realized another takedown into the full guard of Pennington. A ground strike landed right on the already injured nose of Pennington, causing her to turtle up while leaking from the face. Nunes poured on the volume and the referee mercifully stepped in to stop the fight.

Nunes was fighting mean tonight:

Check out Pennington looking to get herself back into the fight: