Although the secrecy surrounding Ronda Rousey’s training camp before UFC 207 is well-known, it seems further lengths were taken to cut down on any information leaking out to the media about her sessions with fellow UFC Women’s Bantamweight contender Raquel Pennington.
In an interview with ESPN.com about her recent shoulder injury, Pennington has revealed that she is not permitted to talk about anything that happened during her time sparring with the former champion as she had signed a non-disclosure agreement at Rousey’s request.
Asked about how she initially agreed to become “Rowdy’s” sparring partner, Pennington mentioned that this was something that had been in the works since she bumped into Rousey at the UFC 205 weigh-ins in New York.
“I actually talked to Ronda the night of the weigh-ins in New York (before UFC 205)”, said the Colorado native. “I bumped into Ronda and she asked me if she could contact me and bring me out for some work. I’ve been out to Los Angeles to see her and Shayna Baszler before. A lot of us are friends outside the octagon. I’m always up for new challenges and everybody brings something to the table. It was definitely a solid experience.”
When probed further about how the sparring sessions went or what Rousey was like during the camp before her defeat to Amanda Nunes, “Rocky” was unable to answer.
“I can’t really talk about how sparring went or what we did. Ronda asked me to sign a non-disclosure agreement, so I did,” revealed Pennington.
“All i can say is the fact I was able to put in work with her and that it was solid work. I can’t say too much more than that.”
The complete shutdown of all information coming out of Rousey’s training camp didn’t seem to pay off as UFC Women’s Bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes took only 48 seconds to dismantle the ex-Olympian and earn the TKO first round victory.
Rousey has now suffered two devastating defeats in her last two bouts and it is yet to be seen whether she will ever get back inside the cage after questions and doubts about her mental state following the defeats continue to grow.
Pennington, on the other hand, is currently in the form of her career after four consecutive victories. The most recent of these wins, a unanimous decision over Miesha Tate, resulted in Women’s MMA pioneer Tate retiring from the sport immediately after the fight.
