Two rising UFC strawweights will face off at this November’s UFC 295.
The 115lb contest will see Tabatha Ricci (9-1) take on Loopy Godinez (11-3) at the card set for the famed Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY on November 11, 2023.
News of the booking was first reported by ESPN Deportes. Both Godinez and her management agency, Iridium Sports, confirmed the match-up on social media.
Just over a week ago at Noche UFC, Godinez picked up her third consecutive victory care of a dominant performance against Elise Reed. She finished the fight via submission in the second round, in an extremely impressive one-sided affair. Prior to that, the Mexican standout, who now trains alongside flyweight champ Alexa Grasso, had notched victories over Emily Ducote and Cynthia Calvillo.
Ricci has won four straight, most recently earning a unanimous decision over Canadian Gillian Robertson in June. Godinez, who grew up in Canada and holds Canadian citizenship, gets a chance to avenge that loss in this one.
UFC 295 is set to be headlined by Jon Jones putting his heavyweight title on the line against former champ Stipe Miocic, a fight that many have been anticipating for years. In the co-main event, Jiri Prochazka returns for a chance to reclaim the title he vacated due to injury, opposite former middleweight champ Alex Pereira.
The following match-ups have been reported for the November 11 Pay-Per-View event thus far:
- Jon Jones (c) vs. Stipe Miocic — for the UFC heavyweight championship
- Jiri Prochazka vs. Alex Pereira — for the vacant UFC light heavyweight championship
- Mackenzie Dern vs. Jessica Andrade
- Matt Schnell vs. Steve Erceg
- Joshua Van vs. Kevin Borjas
- Jared Gordon vs. Mark Madsen
- Pat Sabatini vs. Diego Lopes
- Mateusz Rębecki vs. Nurullo Aliev
- Jamall Emmers vs. Dennis Buzukja
- Matt Frevola vs. Benoît Saint-Denis
- Loopy Godinez vs. Tabatha Ricci
- Nazim Sadykhov vs. Viacheslav Borshchev
