“I respect Dana and Hunter,” Gay UFC champion defends Dana White and the UFC from media criticism of Sean Strickland’s LGBTQ remarks

New women's UFC champion Raquel Pennington defends UFC amid media controversy after Sean Strickland's controversial comments.

“I respect Dana and Hunter,” Gay UFC champion defends Dana White and the UFC from media criticism of Sean Strickland’s LGBTQ remarks

Raquel Pennington and Dana White ( Image via X / Imago )

Raquel Pennington recently became the bantamweight champion at UFC 297 after many years of chasing the title. However, her title victory also came to media attention after Sean Strickland made some controversial comments. Pennington recently responded to Strickland and to the media criticisms UFC faced as a result. Here is what happened:

Raquel Pennington recently did an interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. There, she defended UFC CEO Dana White from the media criticisms after not trying to silence Sean Strickland. Pennington said: 

You know I respect Dana and Hunter for giving their concern. I also respect the fact that they do give freedom of speech and they give their athletes to be who they are and I mean they just don't care. But you know a lot of people are constantly criticizing things. They are attacking Dana and saying different things but I mean he does care about his athletes.
Raquel Pennington via MMA Hour
YouTube video

Sean Strickland made headlines for his comments about the LGBTQ community and women. During fight week, Strickland made homophobic comments and also said that women fighters aren’t good. Strickland also said that he could probably beat Raquel Pennington and that he didn’t want to watch two little cats fight.

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Raquel Pennington’s last fight was against Mayra Bueno Silva. It was Pennington’s second title fight in the UFC. Her first shot at the title came in 2018 against Amanda Nunes. However, she lost in the final round of the fight. Six years later, Pennington fought her way back to the title and eventually won it. Her story remains one of the biggest success stories in women’s MMA. No one in the bantamweight division comes close to Amanda Nunes. However, Pennington has the skill set to have a long reign in the division.

Raquel Pennington responds to Sean Strickland’s controversial comments

Sean Strickland has made multiple controversial remarks about women and the LGBTQ community. Women’s bantamweight champion Raquel Pennington is both a woman and belongs to the LGBTQ category. She is a lesbian and married UFC fighter Tecia Torres with whom she has a daughter.

Raquel Pennington fires back at Sean Strickland for his comments about women's MMA and homophobic people.
Raquel Pennington fires back at Sean Strickland for his comments (via IMAGO/Instagram)

Sean Strickland attacked women’s MMA and did not consider it as good as the men’s fight. Though many female fighters did not respond to Strickland’s comments, Pennington chose to not remain silent. She clapped back at Strickland mentioning the significance of women’s MMA. Pennington said the talent levels continued to develop from the early days of women’s MMA. Furthermore, she asserted that the divisions will continue to get stronger as time goes on.

After affirming women’s strength in the UFC, seeing who Pennington fights next will be interesting. Possible opponents could be Julianna Pena, who declared she would target the winner of UFC 297 for her comeback fight. If the fight materializes, it will be Pennington’s first title defense as UFC champion.

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