Raquel Pennington Blasts ESPN's Ryan Clark For Calling For UFC Bantamweight Division's Closure: 'You're Not Living In Our Shoes'

"It looked like a fight with two people who got a gameplan, and as they were walking to the Octagon, they said 'F*** the gameplan, I'm gonna do whatever the hell I want to do,'" Clark said. "Two people who knew good and dang well that there's no way they should be fighting for a championship. If that's what's going to be the highest level of bantamweight division for the UFC, there should be a serious discussion of getting rid of it."

Raquel Pennington Responds To Ryan Clark's Post-UFC 297 Remarks

Pennington responded to Clark's comments in a recent interview on Unlocking the Cage on SiriusXM's Fight Nation.

"At the end of the day, I don't care what people say, I'm not here for their expectations and to live up to that. I'm here for me, conquering goals, achieving things for myself," Pennington said. "Every fight can be different. People can criticize, but there's a lot of people who wouldn't step in our shoes for 10 seconds, they have no clue what it's like...

"I went out there, got the job done, but I have so much more to offer. I have a ton of experience here...for everybody else who just wants to talk, keep sitting on your couch and talking and criticizing, because you're not living in our shoes."

Pennington has won six consecutive fights since falling to Holly Holm at UFC 246. She earned recent wins over Ketlen Vieira and Aspen Ladd on her way to her showing at UFC 297.

Clark is an avid UFC fan who hosts DC&RC with UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier on ESPN. A former Super Bowl-winning safety, Clark has made the full-time move from the field to the broadcast desk with ease.

The UFC bantamweight division likely isn't going away anytime soon, and Pennington likely has plenty of time to prove her detractors like Clark wrong.