The UFC returned to Salt Lake City on Saturday for UFC 307, headlined by a pair of title fights including an explosive striker’s match-up featuring light heavyweight champ Alex Pereira defending against Khalil Rountree Jr.
It was an unexpected headliner of sorts, with Rountree getting the nod in favor of the higher-ranked Magomed Ankalaev. A dull draw with Jan Blachowicz a little under two years ago in a fight for the then-vacant 205lb title was likely to blame for that.
In Saturday’s co-main event, Raquel Pennington looked to make the first defense of her women’s bantamweight title, taking on former champ Julianna Pena. With Kayla Harrison vs. Ketlen Vieira earlier in the night set to nominate the next challenger, Pennington was looking to prove she wasn’t simply a transitional champ, while Pena was looking to be a rare two-time champ among the women.
Pena had been out over a year, originally expected to face Amanda Nunes in a trilogy fight at UFC 289 last year – only to pull out due to injury and see Nunes instead defeat Irene Aldana, then retire.
With the belt now in Pennington’s hands, Pena was ready to get her shot against her former TUF 18 roommate, with no love lost between them.
| Writer / Fight | Vieira vs. Harrison | Dolidze vs. Holland | Aldo vs. Bautista | Pennington vs. Pena | Pereira vs. Rountree |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jay Anderson (105-66) |  |  |  |  |  |
| Jamie Theodosi (82-57) | | | |  | |
| Eddie Law (99-71) | |  |  | | |
| Alex Behunin (96-70) | | | | | |
| Chris Prawdzik (84-63) | | | | | |
| Patrick McCorry (75-68) | | | | | |
| Cade Morehouse (66-60) | | | | |  |
| Dylan Napoleone (15-10) | | | | | |
Among our team, the vast majority see Alex Pereira defending his light heavyweight title. And every single writer responding expect Kayla Harrison to see her arm raised over Ketlen Vieira, signaling a title shot for the two-time PFL champ and two-time Olympic gold medalist.