Morning Report: Miesha Tate says Raquel Pennington’s corner allowed her to lose ‘with dignity’

At UFC 224 on in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Saturday, Amanda Nunes successfully defended her bantamweight title against Raquel Pennington, stopping Penning with strikes in the fifth round. But while Nunes’ performance was something to appreciate, the biggest story coming out of the fight was the decision of Pennington’s corner to send their fighter back out for the fifth round despite Pennington telling them “I’m done” after the fourth round.

In the immediate aftermath of the event, a number of fighters spoke out against Pennington’s corner not protecting their fighter, with Nunes even saying the corner “failed” Pennington. But not everyone agrees. Chief among the dissenters is a woman who has fought both Nunes and Pennington, former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate, who went on SiriusXM Rush after the event, saying that she agreed with the decision to not stop the fight.

“I think that I would’ve done the same thing if I was in her corner’s shoes,” Tate said. “It’s important that a fighter loses with dignity, and I think that Raquel lost with dignity. She went out there and she got finished. She went out on her shield. I would have done the same thing because sometimes when you’re tired and you don’t think you have enough left, your coach’s job is to pull the most out of you and I think that’s what the corner was trying to do – not let her give up on herself, get her back in the game mentally. She lost, but she went out there. She could have quit at any point if she felt like she couldn’t hang in there. She got finished, and I would have done the same thing.”

The debate in MMA about when a corner should stop a fight has become more prominent in recent years as concerns about sustained head trauma have risen. Unlike in boxing, corners rarely stop fights in MMA, allowing fighters to take extra punishment under the belief in the old adage that “anything can happen” and their fighter could author an epic comeback and enjoy the spoils that come with that. For Pennington, that outcome was not to be as she was mauled in the fifth round, but Tate maintains that the chance was enough to warrant Pennington fighting on.

“I think he didn’t want to let her give up on herself in the fifth round,” Tate said. “She’s very durable and she’d been doing really well up until that point – not necessarily winning but she wasn’t out of the fight. I think she deserved to not give up on herself, to go out there and try to win that fight. It didn’t work out that way but it could have. She could have gone out there and done something incredible that fifth round and been like, ‘Thank you, coach. You’re a genius for not letting me give up in that fifth round.’

“You always have a little bit more in the gas tank when you feel like you’re done. I think that her coach really wanted to give her the best opportunity and not let her give up on herself…

“When you’re in those mentally weak spots, that what your coach is there to do. Your coach is there to say, “No, no, no. Don’t give up on yourself. You made it this far. You’ve got one more round. Five more minutes for the rest of your life. I’m not going to let you quit.’ That’s the coach’s job and I think that he made the right decision.”

Tate knows a thing or two about battling through hardship. Known as one of the toughest women alive during her career, Tate authored several remarkable comebacks in her time, including her title winning submission of Holly Holm in the fifth round at UFC 196. Tate’s corner didn’t stop that fight and Tate, obviously, has no regrets about it. Similarly, she says that Pennington was the author of her own fate on Saturday night and in the long run will be happy with her corner’s decision.

“She did get finished but if she really wanted to she could have just said, ‘I’m not gonna go out for the next round,’” Tate said. “I think she was looking for her coach to give her the words of encouragement. ‘I want to be done.’ Yeah, but you’re not. And she got off the stool and went back out for the fifth round. She didn’t have to do that. Nobody tied her hands behind her back and shoved her out there.

“She got the opportunity to win or to lose, to finish or to be finished. She had every opportunity in the book, and I think she’ll be glad that she went out for the fifth round and overcame that mental hurdle of not wanting to. She poured her whole heart out there, and I don’t think she’s going to regret that decision.”