Tecia Lyn Pennington (née Torres Moncaio; born August 16, 1989) is an American mixed martial artist who is currently competing in the women's Strawweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
[7] Pennington was born in Fall River, Massachusetts, but moved to Coral Springs with her single mom, older sister and a younger brother at the age of five.
She began in taekwondo as a child, and received her black belt after twelve years practicing the sport.
[9] Pennington graduated at 20 years old in 2010 with a Bachelor of Arts, double majoring in Criminal Justice and Sociology from Florida Atlantic University.
[13][14][15] In 2012, Pennington moved to professional mixed martial arts and signed with Invicta Fighting Championships.
[16] Pennington made her professional and promotional debut against Kaiyana Rain on October 6, 2012, at Invicta FC 3: Penne vs. Sugiyama.
[17] Pennington faced Paige VanZant on January 5, 2013, at Invicta FC 4: Esparza vs. Hyatt, winning on all judges' score cards.
In December 2013, Pennington was announced as one of 11 women signed by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) for its newly created strawweight division.
It was also announced that she would compete as a cast member on The Ultimate Fighter reality series, as part of a tournament to crown the inaugural strawweight champion.
[22] In the season premiere of The Ultimate Fighter, Pennington was selected by Team Melendez with the second pick.
She was transferred to the team run by Anthony Pettis and defeated Bec Rawlings in the preliminary round by unanimous decision.
Pennington was next expected to face former Invicta FC Atomweight Champion Michelle Waterson at UFC 194.
[28] Pennington next faced Bec Rawlings in a rematch at UFC Fight Night: Bermudez vs.
[36] Pennington faced former strawweight champion Joanna Jędrzejczyk on July 28, 2018, at UFC on Fox 30.
[42] Pennington was scheduled to face Mizuki Inoue on March 28, 2020, at UFC on ESPN: Ngannou vs.
[44] Instead, Pennington face Brianna Van Buren on June 20, 2020, at UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs.
[53] Despite surviving deep submission attempts in the second round, Pennington lost the close bout via split decision.
[61] She is openly part of the LGBTQ+ community and is married to former UFC women's bantamweight champion, Raquel Pennington.