A women’s bantamweight fight featuring two top-five talents will headline the UFC’s May 20 Fight Night card.
Promotion officials announced on Tuesday that Raquel Pennington (15-8) will face Irene Aldana (14-6) to cap off the night, which sees the promotion once again at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Pennington is ranked #2 in the women’s 135lb weight class, while Aldana sits at #5. Previously, Aldana had been linked to a title fight with Amanda Nunes. With the company needing a headliner for UFC 289 on June 10 in Vancouver, however, Nunes was paired up with Julianna Pena, while the promotion has opted to book Aldana against Pennington in what could very well be a number one contender’s fight.
It’s the second time “Rocky” and Mexico’s Aldana have faced off inside the octagon. Their first encounter went down in July of 2019, with Pennington getting the nod via split decision. Since that fight Aldana has posted a 4-1 record, with her only loss coming to ex-champ Holly Holm.
Pennington has won five straight fights, and has also lost just one fight since the Aldana match-up in 2019; that loss also came against Holm.
The UFC’s May 20 Fight Night event also features the following announced and reported match-ups:
- Raquel Pennington vs. Irene Aldana
- Edmen Shahbazyan vs. Anthony Hernandez
- Ilir Latifi vs. Rodrigo Nascimento
- Orion Cosce vs. Gilbert Urbina
- Andre Fialho vs. Joaquin Buckley
- Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs. Vanessa Demopoulos
- Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Brunno Ferreira
- Hayisaer Maheshate vs. Viacheslav Borschev
- Michael Johnson vs. Carlos Diego Ferreira
- Chase Hooper vs. Nick Fiore
- Natalia Silva vs. Victoria Leonardo
