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| Holly Holm, Raquel Pennington |
Last week it was announced on UFC Tonight that Russian Milana Dudieva was to be the likely opponent for Holly Holm's UFC debut. Usually when something is announced on UFC Tonight, it will probably happen. But last night they announced that Holly Holm will face Raquel Pennington on UFC 181 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. It looks like this match will be on the main card. So what happened to Dudieva? It looks like foot dragging by her management in Russia. Maybe they thought it was too big a fight for her. Milana tweeted that people shouldn't start rumours. Except that the UFC announced this themselves on UFC Tonight. It was not reported by other media outlets until after the UFC announced it. It looks to me like the UFC was trying to force her manager to make a decision because they needed to announce the fight. It's just as well because though Raquel has a 4-4 record, I think she's a better fighter than Milana. She was training at Altitude MMA in Colorado Springs, CO. but has moved to Victory MMA. On The Ultimate Fighter 18, she won a memorable overtime scrap against Jessamyn Duke. She's 1-1 in the UFC. She lost her most recent fight by split decision to Jessica Andrade on Mar. 15. I thought Jessica won the fight 29-28. Raquel's needed to be more aggressive earlier in the fight. Part of the problem is her corner gave her very poor advice between rounds. They told her the fight was closer than it was. By the time she got her act together, it was too late. Maybe that's why she switched camps. Raquel is a striker with not much of a ground game. And Holly Holm is a former boxing champ. I don't think Raquel can win a striking battle with Holly. I would recommend a different strategy but I don't know if she has that in her. Holly Holm should be the favourite to win.
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