Athletes
COACH CONVERSATION UFC 307: PENNINGTON VS PEÑA
Xtreme Couture Striking Coach Eddie Barraco Steps In To Break Down Saturday’s Women’s Bantamweight Title Fight
Ahead of every championship fight, UFC staff writer E. Spencer Kyte will sit down with one the sharpest coaching minds in the sport to break down the action and provide UFC fans with insights into each championship pairing from the men that spend their days getting these elite athletes prepared to compete on the biggest stage in the sport.
For UFC 307’s championship co-main event, Kyte sat down with Eddie Barracco of Xtreme Couture to discuss the ins and outs of the title fight grudge match between TUF 18 roommates Raquel Pennington and Julianna Pena.
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Best Trait of Each Fighter
Kyte: What’s the best trait of Raquel Pennington and what’s the best trait of Julianna Pena?
Barraco: Some of the things I see for Raquel Pennington, obvious toughness and resilience; she’s got some durability, some ability to push through adversity. She can take a punch and keep moving, and she’s well-rounded; she has a good grappling background, and when you combine that with the effective striking, I think it allows her to adapt her game plan mid-fight.
Julianna Pena, obviously she’s got a really strong grappling and BJJ background, she’s got good wrestling and jiu jitsu skills, using that to take fights to the ground, and she does well there. And she’s aggressive — she pushes that pace and engages her opponents, and that creates opportunities for her for those takedowns, for those submissions, and for the ground-and-pound.
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Kyte: For someone like Pennington, where I agree that the resilience and durability are such weapons, does that change the way a fighter can go into a fight when you know you’re able to — she went into that fight in January knowing, “Round One is gonna suck, it’s gonna be miserable, but she can go two rounds, and I can go five no problem.”
Does that change the mindset, give you a different resolve when you’re preparing knowing you have that in your back pocket?
Barraco: I think so. Having the confidence, knowing that you can continue the pace, continue pushing forward as the fight goes on, in later rounds, I do think that gives you — even if it’s just a confidence advantage, which we both know can go a long way in combat sports.
Sometimes the mind can be our biggest ally or our worst enemy, and I think having that in your back pocket, so to speak, does go a long way.
Path to Victory for Each Fighter
Kyte: Based on the traits, I think most people see a relatively clear path to victory for each fighter. What would you say it is for each athlete?
Barraco: Yeah, I think that’s right.
For Pennington, it’s utilizing that striking and that volume, using those skills to maintain the distance and a high-volume approach could help her out-score Pena. And then keeping the fight standing, avoiding the grappling, I think she’ll have a better chance of implementing that game plan.
For Pena, historically wrestling, ground control — she could take the fight to the ground early and use that wrestling to control Pennington, and once she’s on the ground, she can look for the submissions and the ground-and-pound. But for her, pressure and pace are part of it, too — she wants to apply pressure and keep a high pace, so it could potentially wear Pennington down, making it harder for her to execute that striking game, especially when you look at their history.
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Julianna Pena is no slouch when it comes to striking; we saw her do it against Amanda Nunes, where she was a slugger. I don’t think we can write her off from a striking perspective; she’s big and obviously she hits hard.
Kyte: This may creep into some of the other things we have to discuss, but if you’re Pennington, do you look at the layoff and say, “This girl hasn’t fought in over two years” and does that make you up the pressure?
If you’re coaching her, do you say, “She hasn’t fought in two years, we train at altitude and we’re going to altitude — we’re gonna push the pace anyways, but let’s stomp on the gas even harder!”?
Barraco: I think so. I think layoffs can absolutely make a difference both in physical fitness and mental fitness, and then when you combine that with what you just said about training at altitude and fighting at altitude, cardio and stamina will absolutely play a factor.
If one fighter starts to fade, it’s gonna be a major advantage for the other; there is no doubt about it. So the ability to maintain a high pace and almost on its own determine a fight’s outcome.
X Factor
Kyte: If there were one thing that was going to significantly impact how this fight plays out — that swings it in one direction or the other — what would it be?
Barraco: I think this one is gonna come down to a lot of the mental side of things. Both fighters are resilient, so I think the mental game is gonna be crucial.
If one can stay composed under pressure, it will give them the ability to capitalize on mistakes from the other, right? And Fight IQ, which is part of the mental side of it, as well. Both fighters will need to adapt those strategies as the fight progresses and make those in-fight adjustments to have the edge.
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For me, I think the X factor is going to be both who comes in in the best shape, and who is able to stay in there mentally because I think as the fight goes on, whoever is in there mentally and whoever is in there physically will be able to make those in-fight adjustments, and I think that’s going to give a good edge to whoever that is.
Kyte: Is there one you think has the better Fight IQ? Is there one that has shown a better ability to adjust or even to avoid making mistakes?
Barraco: I don’t know if I would say, “This one absolutely over the other” or think that it’s a care where with either one it’s “this is your only path to victory.”
That’s why I lean more into the mental aspect of the fight, and maybe that layoff plays a huge part of that.
Takedown opportunities are going to be crucial for Pena, especially if she finds herself fighting at that altitude and not feeling so great. Obviously I don’t know what they did in her camp and what they did to prepare for the altitude, but I think the wrestling could be her way to slow that down because I think Pennington being able to push that pace, stay at range, avoid those takedowns, it could be a huge help for her as far as being able to keep the fight where she wants it.
But it’s all a matter of how we’re doing off the layoff and how we feel going into this fight.
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Kyte: I’m going to be really interested to see how much or how little Rocky decides to engage with Pena verbally, because we know she’s gonna come in talking junk from the first second she touches down in Utah and the first time they see each other.
I’m sure they’re going to do a press conference, and I’m very curious to see how much Raquel engages with it or just leaves it be. I know they have long history from when they were both on The Ultimate Fighter, so it’s going to be interesting to me to see whether she feeds into that or not?
I think Pena feeds off that stuff. I think she’s one of those athletes like Michael Bisping where she has to make it personal, has to make it contentious, and it fuels her. Like Bisping could pick a fight with me and we don’t know each other, and he’ll find a way to make it personal somehow. I think Pena is the same way, so I wanna see if “Rocky” gets shaken by it and is sucked in or is just like, “Whatever!”
Barraco: I totally agree and I completely agree that she’s gonna come out fired up.
One Coaching Curiosity
Kyte: If there is a little something-something in this matchup that catches your eye, that piques your interest from a coaching standpoint, what is it?
Barraco: Given Pena’s ability to finish the fight with strikers, I’m really interested to see how that end of this plays out, and seeing if Pennington can weather that storm early on.
If she can, I think she’s gonna do well. If she can’t, I think it’s gonna be a long five rounds, if not less, for her. I think they both have the ability to get it down, but again, it’s just gonna come down to if you’re able to implement your game plan.
READ: Coach Conversation UFC 307: Pereira vs Rountree Jr.
I know that is true for all the fights, but some of them are a little less clear cut about what one should be trying to do against the other, but, for me, it’s like we talked about and like you mentioned — being able to weather that storm early on and push through, using that cardio advantage, using that altitude advantage.
Can you make it to the later rounds in order to do so against someone that clearly has some power like Pena? It’ll be interesting to see that.
Kyte: I’m gonna be really interested to see if Pennington can avoid falling into that clinch where she’s so comfortable and is more committed to being at range, letting go with her hands, because, to me, that clinch can be a trouble spot here.
You clinch up with Pena, and now she’s got her hands on you as much as you’ve got your hands on her, and that’s where she can start looking for takedown opportunities, either by level-changing or body locks or whatever. So can “Rocky” do the thing that the coaches are going to be shouting at her to do of maintaining that space, just use the hands, get that jab going?
Does she almost end up making it harder than it might need to be?
Barraco: Absolutely, because if she can utilize that jab and her ability to mix up her strikes — use her footwork, her angles, her distance control — I think it’s gonna be a lot easier of a night for her.
If she’s lax in that department and she allows Pena on the inside, it’s like, you may do all right there, but just as much as you have her in a clinch, she has you in a clinch as well.
UFC 307: Pereira vs Rountree Jr., took place live from Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah on October 5, 2024. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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