The UFC Fight Night card on May 21 has its main event, as Holly Holm is
expected to square off against Ketlen
Vieira in a women’s bantamweight bout.
Both fighters have agreed to a five-round headlining bout, which
was initially
reported by Ariel Helwani. Additionally, two-time light
heavyweight title challenger Alexander
Gustafsson will remain at heavyweight for a matchup with
Ben
Rothwell.
Frontkick Online initially brought word of the
Gustafsson-Rothwell pairing.
A former bantamweight champion and featherweight title challenger,
Holm hasn’t seen action since a convincing five-round verdict over
Irene
Aldana in the UFC on ESPN 16 main event in October 2020. Since
then, injuries have forced the Jackson-Wink MMA product to withdraw
from proposed bouts against Julianna
Pena on May 8 and against Norma
Dumont on Oct. 16. Holm has won three of her last four Octagon
appearances.
Vieira is coming off a 1-1 2021 campaign that saw her drop a
unanimous decision to Yana
Kunitskaya before rebounding with a five-round decision win
against Miesha Tate
in the UFC Fight Night 198 headliner this past November.
Gustafsson made his heavyweight debut at UFC on ESPN 14, where he
was submitted by Fabricio
Werdum in the opening round of their July 2020 encounter. “The
Mauler” has lost three straight in the Octagon and five of his last
seven dating back to January 2015. The 35-year-old Swede has been
finished in all but one of those defeats.
Rothwell, meanwhile, has lost two of his last three promotional
appearances, including a 32-second TKO defeat to Marcos
Rogerio de Lima in his last outing at UFC Fight Night 197 this
past November. In his only other 2021 bout, the Kenosha, Wisc.,
native submitted Chris
Barnett in the second round at UFC Fight Night 188.