A women’s flyweight rematch between two former title challengers in the division has been added to the UFC’s January 15 event.
Katlyn Chookagian will meet Jennifer Maia for the second time on the card, the UFC’s first of 2022. MMA Ideas was first to report the booking. Maia would later confirm the pairing on social media.
Chookagian (16-4) first met Maia (19-7-1) in 2019 at UFC 244. “Blonde Fighter” would beat Brazil’s Maia across three rounds, picking up a unanimous decision. Her very next fight would be for the UFC women’s flyweight championship; like everyone else in the division thus far, she came up short against Valentina Shevchenko.
In her four fights since losing to the champ, Chookagian has posted a 3-1 record, with wins over Antonina Shevchenko, Cynthia Calvillo, and Viviane Araujo. Her lone loss in that span was to Jessica Andrade.
Maia would bounce back from her loss to Chookagian by beating Joanne Calderwood, and taking her place in a title fight against Shevchenko. Maia managed to go the distance with the champ, even winning a round, but still lost a unanimous decision in the end. She got back in the win column in July at UFC 264, beating Jessica Eye in a decision.
Chookagian and Maia are currently ranked #2 and #4 in the UFC women’s flyweight division, respectively.
The UFC’s January 15, 2022 card does not have an official location, venue, or broadcast plan set. Currently lined up for the card are the following bouts:
Calvin Kattar vs. Giga Chikadze
Bill Algeo vs. Joanderson Brito
Zarrukh Adashev vs. Kleydson Rodrigues
Rogério Bontorin vs. Brandon Royval
Kay Hansen vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius
Brian Kelleher vs. Saidyokub Kakhramonov
Court McGee vs. Ramiz Brahimaj
Ashley Yoder vs. Vanessa Demopoulos
Katlyn Chookagian vs. Jennifer Maia
Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Joaquin Buckley
