11 Predictions For UFC 181

By Jay Anderson /

9. Raquel Pennington vs. Ashlee-Evans Smith

Weight Class: Bantamweight Raquel Pennington (4-4) is 1-1 in the UFC and has struggled to find consistency in her pro MMA run, which began back in 2012. She seems to struggle making the step up to the next level in competition, and has lost to Jessica Andrade, Leslie Smith, and Cat Zingano both in and out of the UFC - while all three are somewhere ahead of her in the mix, with Zingano being the number one contender, and Smith getting a lot of press for a gruesome ear injury she sustained last month. Ashlee-Evans Smith, however, is not a step up for Pennington. The 3-0 fighter is making her UFC debut, and her biggest claim to fame is probably that she holds a win over transgender fighter Fallon Fox. She's a short-notice replacement for the injured Holly Holm. Pennington should take this one - look for a strong outing ending in a TKO in the second or third. As a side note, Pennington's record per the UFC is 4-5, but most other sources (Sherdog included) only have eight fights listed on her pro resume, setting her at 4-4.