The UFC has found its main event for UFC Vegas 73 on May 20.
The promotion announced in a press release that Raquel Pennington vs. Irene Aldana has been booked to headline the card on May 20 from the UFC Apex. The fight serves as a rematch of their fight back in July of 2019 in a scrap that Pennington won by split decision.
Five rounds for the rematch!@RockyPMMA and @IreneAldana_ will run it back in our May 20th main event! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/1GTQQTS5Dz
— UFC (@ufc) April 19, 2023
Raquel Pennington (15-8) is riding a five-fight win streak and picked up a split decision win over Ketlen Vieira back in January. Pennington is currently ranked second at bantamweight and also on the win streak she has wins over Aspen Ladd, Macy Chiasson, Pannie Kianzad, and Mario Reneau. This will be Pennington’s second UFC main event as she headlined UFC 224 against Amanda Nunes for the belt where she lost by TKO.
Irene Aldana (14-6) is coming off a KO win over Macy Chiasson back at UFC 279 in September. Prior to that, she scored a TKO win over Yana Kunitskaya at UFC 264. The Mexican is currently ranked fifth at bantamweight and this will be her second UFC main event. In her first main event, she dropped a decision to Holly Holm in October of 2020 which was her last loss. In the Las Vegas-based promotion, Aldana is 7-4 with notable wins over Ketlen Vieira by KO, Bethe Correia, and Lucie Pudilova among others.
Along with the main event, the UFC also announced a welterweight fight between Joaquin Buckley and Andre Fialho. This fight will be Buckley’s first welterweight fight in the UFC as he enters the scrap coming off back-to-back losses to Chris Curtis and Nassourdine Imavov. Andre Fialho, meanwhile, is also on a two-fight losing skid and is just 2-3 in the UFC.
The other fight announced for UFC Vegas 73 is another welterweight scrap between Orion Cosce and Gilbert Urbina. Cosce is coming off his first win inside the Octagon as he beat Blood Diamond by decision last July. Urbina, meanwhile, is coming off a submission loss to Bryan Battle in the TUF 29 finale back in August of 2021.
With the addition of these three fights, UFC Vegas 73 is now as follows:
- Raquel Pennington vs. Irene Aldana
- Anthony Hernandez vs. Edmen Shahbazyan
- Joaquin Buckley vs. Andre Fialho
- Orion Cosce vs. Gilbert Urbina
- Diego Ferreira vs. Michael Johnson
- Vanessa Demopoulos vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
- Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Brunno Ferreira
- Ilir Latifi vs. Rodrigo Nascimento
- Viacheslav Borshchev vs. Hayisaer Maheshate
- Nick Fiore vs. Chase Hooper
- Victoria Leonardo vs. Natalia Silva
Who do you think wins the May 20 main event between Raquel Pennington and Irene Aldana?
