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Gay UFC Champion Raquel Pennington Hailed For Response To Sean Strickland's Homophobic Comments At UFC 297: 'I Couldn't Have Asked For A Better Answer!'

Originally posted on MMA News | By John Cunningham | Last updated 1/24/24

Josh Thomson was impressed by how new UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion Raquel Pennington handled Sean Strickland's recent comments.

At the UFC 297 press conference last week, "Tarzan" was asked about an old tweet he'd posted claiming he'd consider himself a failure if he had a son who came out as gay. The query led to furious response from Strickland, who quickly went after not only the LGBTQ+ community, but also Canadian PM Justin Trudeau among other things.

Unsurprisingly, Strickland's comments garnered considerable coverage and controversy. In the co-main event of the night at UFC 297, Raquel Pennington and Mayra Bueno Silva, both of whom are gay, competed for then-vacant 135lbs gold.

After the event, Pennington was asked about Strickland's shocking remarks. Far from heated, "Rocky" kept it classy, warned of the consequences of such behaviour, and even suggested she and "Tarzan" could sit down for a discussion on the matter sometime.

Following her championship-winning performance, Raquel Pennington addressed comments made earlier in the week by Sean Strickland:

"I can learn so much from you and you can learn so much from me if you're just willing to sit there and listen and learn as people." pic.twitter.com/eTNhhnsh0R
— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) January 22, 2024

"Shut The Media Down, Stop Giving Them Clickbait" - Josh Thomson

On a recent episode of the WEIGHING IN podcast, former Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Josh Thomson weighed in on Pennington's take on Strickland's recent conduct.

Thomson believes Pennington handled the subject about as well as anyone could. "The Punk" commended her for suggesting a discussion with Strickland, and for not giving the media anything wild to run with from it.

"Raquel Pennington, after the fight, had clarified some stuff too," Thomson said. "Like, 'Sean, if you want to have a talk, we can sit down and talk.' That could not have been a better answer. No one, no reason to say something that's going to get the media involved to stir the pot even more. Shut the media down, stop giving them clickbait s**t, and just say 'Look, if Sean wants to talk to me, I'd love to sit down' and that's exactly what she said. 'You want to sit down with me, we can learn a lot from each other.' I couldn't have asked for a better answer."