Raquel Pennington wants to derail Kayla Harrison hype train: “I would love to be the one to go out there and just shut that sh*t up”

Raquel Pennington feels prepared to end the hype train of Kayla Harrison.

Pennington is the reigning UFC women’s bantamweight champion. She will put her gold at stake against Julianna Pena. The title fight will serve as the UFC 307 co-main event this Saturday night. Harrison will also be on the card, fighting Ketlen Vieira.

Harrison has said if plans go awry with the title fight, she expects to be a replacement.

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Raquel Pennington Wants to Derail Kayla Harrison Hype Train

Raquel Pennington has heard the chatter within the MMA community. Some believe that Pennington is simply keeping the title warm for Kayla Harrison. Pennington told MMAFighting.com that her plan is to silence the doubters.

“Honestly we prepared for this fight, too, because Julianna has a history of getting injured that it could possibly be Kayla getting bumped up. I know she put it out there she wanted to be the backup fighter. So I prepared for two different chicks here. You need to wait your turn but with that being said, I am older, I plan on going out there and I plan on winning this fight and then after that, do I think regardless it will probably be Kayla next? I absolutely do. I would love to be the one to go out there and just shut that sh*t up.”

Pennington admitted that it’s frustrating to see some fighters get anointed as the golden goose when she’s had nothing handed to her. She compared Harrison to the new version of Holly Holm in terms of hype within the 135-pound division.

With that said, Pennington is happy to see Harrison being put in a fight with Ketlen Vieira to truly earn her UFC title shot.