With just two fights since 2015, Alexandra Albu will get back in the cage early next year and look to make it three straight wins when she takes on Emily Whitmire at UFC 233.
Russia’s Alexandra Albu will make her return to the octagon early next year. On Wednesday, UFC officials updated the UFC 233 card to include a strawweight scrap between Albu (7-0) and TUF veteran Emily Whitmire (3-2). The fight joins a PPV event topped by what could be the final flyweight title fight when T.J. Dillashaw drops weight to challenge Henry Cejudo for the 125lb belt.
Albu has won both her fights in the UFC to date, but has struggled to make it to the octagon with any sort of consistency. Joining the promotion back in 2015, she defeated Izabela Badurek by submission in her debut, at bantamweight. Albu, however, would not fight again until 2017, and dropped to strawweight (Badurek, for her part, was released after that single fight).
Returning at UFC 214, Albu battled Kailin Curran to a unanimous decision. However, she has not fought since, and will have been out well over a year when she returns against Whitmire.
Whitmire, for her part, is coming off her first UFC win, over Jamie Moyle. ‘Spitfire’ first appeared on The Ultimate Fighter 26 competing at flyweight, and defeated Christina Marks before being eliminated from the show by Roxanne Modafferi. Losing to Gillian Robertson at the TUF 26 finale, she dropped weight against Moyle, and will remain at 115lbs when she takes on Albu.
UFC 233 takes place January 26 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
