Tecia Pennington | At A Crossroad

Alayah’s mom has been both cool and ultra-competitive for the entirety of her 13-year career, which followed an amateur run that initially put Pennington on the radar as a can’t-miss prospect. Four consecutive wins to start her career — which closed with victories over Paige VanZant, Rose Namajunas, and Felice Herrig — landed Pennington in the cast for Season 20 of The Ultimate Fighter, which ended with the inaugural UFC strawweight champion being crowned.

She transitioned into the Octagon, claiming a spot in the Top 10 right out of the gates and maintaining residency in the rankings right up until the point where she took time off to have her daughter. Since coming back, the diminutive striker has returned to form, following up a debated split decision loss to Tabatha Ricci with clear decision wins over Carla Esparza and Luana Pinheiro.

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“It just shows my durability, my credibility as a fighter; that I’ve remained one of the best in the world since I started,” she said of her continual placement amongst the best in the 115-pound weight class over the last decade and change. “I fought the best of them. I have seven losses and five of them are from champions now.

“I’m the only fighter that has fought every single champion! That was prior to Mackenzie winning, and it’s still true now.”

It’s true: there have been six women that have worn the strawweight title — Dern, Zhang Weili, Esparza, Namajunas, Jessica Andrade, and Joanna Jedrzejczyk — and Pennington is the lone fighter in the division who has shared the Octagon with all of them. Though her only triumph came against Esparza in the two-time champion’s farewell appearance at UFC 307, she went the distance in each contest, pushing the former or future champions hard for 15 minutes each time, further exhibiting her undeniable abilities and standing as one of the best in the weight class.

That still holds true now, and while her competitive battle with the new champion Dern at UFC 273 could serve as a motivator and catalyst for another push towards the top of the division, Pennington is admittedly conflicted, as opportunities to compete haven’t come as readily as she would like, prompting her to think long and hard about what comes next after this weekend.

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“I wish I fought more often,” she admitted when asked about Dern’s title win, given the competitive nature of their previous meeting. “I wish I got three in a year instead of two because when you take six to eight months off, that’s a long time off for somebody who is 36, and I’m wanting to go to my next chapter and continue to grow my family.

“After a win this weekend, I would definitely want a fight within two months, and if I didn’t get it, I would probably try to continue to move on with growing my family in the meantime. It's not gonna happen overnight, and I would still take a fight if it didn’t happen, but ideally, I’d like to win and have a fight within eight weeks, provided I don’t have any injuries or anything like that. But this six or eight months is a long time to wait.”

That’s an admission you don’t get very often from an athlete, and one that Pennington admitted is tough to acknowledge.

“It's scary, a little bit, because being a fighter has been a part of my life my entire life; I started martial arts when I was five,” she continued. “It’s been an outlet for me. Growing up, I grew up in a very rough upbringing, and it was definitely school and karate that kept me from doing other things that I could have been doing with my life, so I’m very grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to be a martial artist.

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“I think it will continue to be a part of my life afterwards because, for sure, my children will learn self-defense. Whether they become fighters or like it is up to them — I’d honestly like them to not be fighters, but I’ll support them in everything they do — but it’s scary because it will close a chapter. 

“I’ll look and see these younger people still going and doing it and think, ‘Man, I can still do it with them,’ but I don’t have all the time in the world to be waiting around.”

With that in mind, the divisional mainstay is hoping to lean on the experience she’s accrued in order to extend her winning streak while halting that of her 25-year-old counterpart Gomes this weekend.

“I just gotta show that I am the veteran, I guess,” she said when asked about facing the ascending Brazilian, who has earned three straight victories to claim her own spot in the strawweight Top 15. “I know I have more Octagon experience, more fight experience overall as an athlete, just because I’m older than her and I started when I was very young. I know how to win fights, and I think that helps me too.

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“Since I’ve been in there with the best of them, even though she’s a young, hungry prospect, there is nothing she can do to me that hasn’t already been tried.”

Confident that there is nothing new Gomes can bring to the table and armed with the ambition to make a quick turnaround, the ever-honest Pennington is hopeful that a clean sweep of the scorecards and a dominant showing on Saturday will yield the quick return to action she’s after.

“I’d love to submit her or knock her out, but when you look at my fights, most of them go to a decision, so realistically, I see myself with a dominant win over her,” offered Pennington. “I don’t see why they wouldn’t be able to give me somebody who would put me closer to the top; Top 7 would be nice. I know that’s kind of a jump because I’m No. 13 right now, but I would take No. 2 or No. 1 tomorrow.

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“If I could get a few fights in regularly and not have to wait six or eight months, that would be nice,” she added. “I want to fight the best, as quickly as I can.

“I’ll ask for it. I can only ask for it.”