Mayra Bueno Silva believes she can knock out Raquel Pennington in the second round of their bout at UFC 297 in January. The No. 3-ranked fighter revisited how Pennington handled her fight against Amanda Nunes, saying that the opponent would say the same “I’m done” signal to her team when she punched her hard.
The two will join the UFC 297 event next month and fight for the co-main event to get the vacant bantamweight championship belt. Silva will face the No. 2-ranked Pennington in the cage, but this does not bother her. As per “Sheetara,” the opponent would only last until the second round, where she will deliver her knockout blow.
Silva believes she has the advantage over Pennington due to how the latter approaches her bouts. According to the fighter, one particular fight that showed that was Pennington’s moment with Nunes at UFC 224.
“Do you remember Raquel fought with Amanda? Raquel said, ‘Alright, I’m done. I don’t want to fight anymore.’ Do you remember?” Silva said on The MMA Hour. “For this reason, she doesn’t want to fight. She doesn’t like to fight. She wants to hold [during] the fight because she doesn’t like fighting. Remember, when she was done, ‘I don’t want no more.’”
In relation to that, Silva promised to land a hard punch in Round 1, saying the opponent would be head again, saying, “I don’t want to fight anymore.” Yet, the Brazilian thinks the bout will last one more round as her opponent likes “to hold.”
“I think she doesn’t want to fight,” Silva said. “She doesn’t have courage.
“She doesn’t like to fight. I like fighting, punching, and takedowns. She likes to fight, but she likes to hold [in] fights. She doesn’t like to fight a clean fight. She likes more clinching and this thing, you know?”
Despite that, Silva assured that the fight wouldn’t last until the third round, saying she might make her KO win by the second round. This is not impossible, nonetheless. While Silva only has one KO win in her UFC record, she boasts eight wins by submission and seven first-round finishes (versus Pennington’s one KO win and four submission wins). With this, even if Silva doesn’t deliver her promised KO victory, the fighter is more than capable of winning the bout via submission.
