A rumored women’s strawweight match-up between two veterans of the division has been added to UFC Vegas 56 next week.
Felice Herrig (14-9) will face Karolina Kowalkiewicz (12-7) at the Fight Night event on June 4, 2022. UFC officials announced the news in a press release on Thursday. The pairing was originally rumored thanks to a leak of potential match-ups from the UFC’s “war room” earlier this month.
The fight marks the return of both veterans after extended layoffs. It is also a rematch of their 2018 meeting, which Kowalkiewicz won via split decision. Since that time, Herrig suffered two more defeats, at the hands of Michelle Waterson and Virna Jandiroba.
Herrig, who from 2016 to 2017 put together a four-fight win streak, has not competed since the August 2020 loss to Jandiroba.
for her part, Kowalkiewicz has not won a fight since the pair’s first meeting. And while Herrig is winless in her last three, the Polish strawweight, a former title challenger, currently sits on a five-fight skid.
Losses to Jessica Andrade, Michelle Waterson, Alexa Grasso, Yan Xiaonan, and Jessica Penne have piled up, putting her in a must-win situation. After starting her career a perfect 10-0, Kowalkiewicz has gone just 2-7 since.
UFC Vegas 56, which takes place at the Apex in Las Vegas on June 4, 2022, is headlined by a heavyweight showdown between Alexander Volkov and Jairzinho Rozenstruik. The following bouts have been reported for the event:
- Alexander Volkov vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
- Dan Ige vs. Movsar Evloev
- Poliana Botelho vs. Karine Silva
- Zhalgas Zhumagulov vs. Jeff Molina
- Zarrukh Adashev vs. Ode’ Osbourne
- Andreas Michailidis vs. Rinat Fakhretdinov
- Erin Blanchfield vs. JJ Aldrich
- Michael Trizano vs. Lucas Almeida
- Damon Jackson vs. Daniel Argueta
- Alex da Silva Coelho vs. Joe Solecki
- Alonzo Menifield vs. Askar Mozharov
- Tony Gravely vs. Johnny Munoz Jr.
- Benoît Saint-Denis vs. Niklas Stolze
- Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs. Felice Herrig
