A rematch between Raquel
Pennington and Irene
Aldana will serve as the main event for UFC Fight Night on May
20.
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The promotion on Tuesday announced the bantamweight pairing — which
had
initially been rumored for UFC on ESPN 43 in San Antonio. UFC
Fight Night takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, and the card
will air in its entirety on ESPN+. Pennington and Aldana initially
squared off at UFC on ESPN 4 in July 2019, with Pennington
prevailing via split decision.
Pennington is currently on a five-bout winning streak in UFC
competition. The former bantamweight title challenger was
successful in her first venture of 2023, as she garnered a split
verdict against Ketlen
Vieira at UFC Fight Night 217 on Jan. 14. Her current run also
includes victories over the likes of Aspen Ladd,
Macy
Chiasson, Pannie
Kianzad and Marion
Reneau.
Aldana, meanwhile, has been victorious in four of her last five
Octagon appearances. The Lobo Gym MMA representative has earned
finishes in three of those bouts, scoring KO/TKO wins over
Chiasson, Kunitskaya and Vieira.
A handful of other contests were also confirmed for the event:
Orion
Cosce vs. Gilbert
Urbina at welterweight; Andre
Fialho vs. Joaquin
Buckley at welterweight; Chase
Hooper vs. Nick Fiore
at lightweight and Natalia
Silva vs. Victoria
Leonardo at flyweight.