Aspen Ladd will be staying on the UFC 273 card, with a new opponent.
Eurosport NL was first to report the news that No. 7 ranked bantamweight Raquel Pennington will step in for Irene Aldana and fight No. 4 ranked Aspen Ladd at UFC 273. The fight was then confirmed on the UFC Columbus broadcast.
Ladd (9-2) is returning to the bantamweight division after a failed attempt at featherweight. She faced Norma Dumont in October and lost a unanimous decision. Prior to that, a botched weight cut scrapped a fight with Macy Chiasson.
Pennington (13-8) has been on a roll since losing to Holly Holm at UFC 246. She has rattled off three wins over Marion Reneau, Pannie Kianzad, and she finished Chiasson in her most recent outing. “Rocky” said last year that she was frustrated that she didn’t get her top ranking after she came back following her suspension; well, she has a chance to take Ladd’s No. 4.
April’s UFC 273 card is going down in Jacksonville, Florida, at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. The following bouts have been reported for the event thus far:
- Alexander Volkanovski (c) vs. The Korean Zombie – for the UFC featherweight championship
- Aljamain Sterling (c) vs. Petr Yan (ic) – for the UFC bantamweight championship
- Gilbert Burns vs. Khamzat Chimaev
- Mackenzie Dern vs. Tecia Torres
- Kelvin Gastelum vs. Nassourdine Imavov
- Raquel Pennington vs. Aspen Ladd
- Ian Garry vs. Darian Weeks
- Dricus du Plessis vs. Anthony Hernandez
- Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Marcin Tybura
- Mickey Gall vs. Mike Malott
- Gavin Tucker vs. Pat Sabatini
- Julio Arce vs. Daniel Santos
- Mark Madsen vs. Vinc Pichel
- Piera Rodriguez vs. Kay Hansen
