Raquel Pennington wins vacant title as Mayra Bueno Silva runs out of gas in second half of the fight

There were moments over the last nearly six years where it would have been easy for Raquel Pennington to think she'd never get the chance to reach the top of the mountain in the UFC's women's bantamweight division. Heck, there were moments in her bout for the vacant title against Mayra Bueno Silva on Saturday at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto in the co-main event of UFC 297 where it looked like she may not get it done.

Pennington, though, is all about perseverance. She kept going through a 5-5 start and then a 10-8 start to her career. She believed she could do in despite superstars in her divisions and plenty of doubters.

And on Saturday, she was in better shape than Silva and rode that to a championship-winning victory by unanimous decision. She won by scores of 49-46 twice and 49-45 to claim the title in typically Pennington fashion. She was in a bad spot in the first round when Silva got her in an arm triangle, and she was never able to keep the fight in the center of the Octagon, at distance, where her coaches preferred her to keep it.

But Pennington kept working and it was her hands that got it done. Silva lost her only other attempt at the belt on May 12, 2018, at UFC 224, when he was knocked out by Amanda Nunes. Two more losses in her next three fights dropped her record to 10-8 and only the most cockeyed optimist could have predicted then that this day would come.

"It's been a long five years," Pennington said. "I had to climb mountains to get back here. For everybody who is chasing a dream and you have people telling you you can't do it, that you're not good enough, stay believing, because that's what I did."

Silva seemed to have the more tools, but Pennington has been around the game for 12 years and has been in the UFC since 2013. She knew what it took to go five rounds and took her time and executed the plan the coaches laid out for her.

It wasn't the most dramatic win, but a win is a win and she'll be in the history books forever after getting it done.

"I get to the point where I knew it wasn't pretty and they said ... 'Work your butt off and get this done,' and that's exactly what I did," Pennington said.