Raquel Pennington vs. Irene Aldana 2 announced for UFC Vegas 73 main event
Two top-ranked women’s bantamweights are set to headline UFC Vegas 73.
A rematch between Raquel Pennington and Irene Aldana is official for the five-round main event of UFC Vegas 73, which takes place May 20 at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas. The promotion announced the matchup Tuesday.
Pennington previously captured a split decision win over Aldana in the pair’s first meeting on the undercard of UFC on ESPN 4 in July 2019.
The rematch between Pennington, 34, and Aldana, 35, will likely decide the next challenger for the winner of UFC 289’s championship trilogy fight on June 10 between UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes and former champion Julianna Peña.
Pennington (15-8) is currently MMA Fighting’s No. 3 ranked female bantamweight in the world. “Rocky” has won five consecutive bouts dating back to 2020, including a split decision over Ketlen Vieira this past January that pushed her to the brink of title contention.
Aldana (14-6) is MMA Fighting’s No. 6 ranked female bantamweight in the world. She was briefly linked to a potential fight against Nunes before the UFC settled on Peña as the division’s next title challenger. The Mexican fighter has won four of her past five bouts, highlighted by a trio of knockouts over Vieira, Yana Santos, and Macy Chiasson.
Other announced bouts for UFC Vegas 73 include:
- Edmen Shahbazyan vs. Anthony Hernandez
- Diego Ferreira vs. Michael Johnson
- Ilir Latifi vs. Rodrigo Nascimento
- Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs. Vanessa Demopoulos
- Chase Hooper vs. Nick Fiore
- Andre Fialho vs. Joaquin Buckley
- Orion Cosce vs. Gilbert Urbina
- Maheshate vs. Viacheslav Borshchev
- Natalia Silva vs. Victoria Leonardo