Bethe Correia vs Raquel Pennington Planned For UFC On FOX 19Recent UFC title challenger Bethe “Pitbull” Correia looks to rebound from the first loss of her career when she competes on April 16th at UFC on FOX 19 in Tampa, Florida. Correia is expected to face TUF 18 semi-finalist Raquel “Rocky” Pennington in a featured bantamweight clash on the card.

Ag. Fight first reported on the targeted fight on Friday. Correia suffered a 34-second knockout loss in her August title fight against then-champion “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey at UFC 190. Pennington avenged a past loss by submitting Jéssica “Bate Estaca” Andrade in their UFC 191 rematch.

Correia (9-1-0) kicked off her UFC career with three straight victories, including back-to-back wins over Rousey’s “Four Horsewomen” stablemates Jessamyn “The Gun” Duke and Shayna “The Queen of Spades” Baszler, but most expected that she would be quickly submitted by the heavily-favoured Rousey in August. Instead, Rousey kept the fight on the feet and she knocked Correia out with a right hook in just 34 seconds. The loss dropped Correia out of title contention for the time being, but she can begin her climb back towards the championship with a win in April.

Pennington (6-5-0) won her official UFC debut at the TUF 18 Finale in late 2013, but then dropped a razor-thin Split Decision to Andrade that temporarily halted her momentum. She got back on track by choking out Ashlee Evans-Smith at UFC 181 and engaged in a closely-contested battle with current UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Holly “The Preacher’s Daughter” Holm this past February at UFC 184. Holm eked out a narrow Split Decision win, but Pennington solidified herself as a contender with the close defeat and she most recently finished Andrade in their September rematch.

UFC on FOX 19 takes place on April 16th at a venue to be determined in Tampa, Florida.

 

 

(Photo Credit: UFC)

  1. I thought around a month ago Jessica Eye vs. Bethe Pennington had been scheduled, then I never heard any more about it. Oh well, it looks like Bethe is going from the frying pan and into the fire. Eye would have been a brutal matchup for her and Pennington will be equally destructive. I give Bethe all the credit in the world for her ability to sell a fight, and I bet the UFC loves her for that, but I’m afraid Correia is in for a very rough road ahead — I think any of the top 10 UFC bantams would destroy her, and the grossly underrated Pennington gets first crack.

  2. Edit: First line should have been “…Jessica Eye vs. Bethe Correia. Sorry it’s been a long week..