Report – Raquel Pennington vs. Irene Aldana II targeted to headline UFC San Antonio on March 25.
A high-stakes potential bantamweight title-eliminator between one-time title challenger, the #2 ranked contender, Raquel Pennington, and the #5 rated contender, Irene Aldana, is currently in the works to take main event honors at UFC Fight Night San Antonio on March 25. The event is currently scheduled to take place at the AT&T Arena in San Antonio, Texas.
Raquel Pennington holds a 2019 split decision win over Irene Aldana
Initially meeting back in July 2019 in San Antonio, Raquel Pennington managed to hand Irene Aldana a split decision loss – snapping a two-fight losing run against former champion, Germaine de Randamie, and current titleholder, Amanda Nunes.
Unbeaten in her last two Octagon appearances, Lobo Gym mainstay, Aldana managed to land consecutive finishes over both Yana Kunitskaya, and back in September, Macy Chiasson – scoring an innovative upkick knockout win over the latter. James Lynch first reported the bout between the duo was being explored for the San Antonio event, with ESPN Deportes reporter, Carlos Contreras Legaspi reported how the UFC were exploring the matchup.
“Sources confirm @ESPNDeportes that the UFC is working on a fight between Raquel Pennington vs. Irene Aldana for the San Antonio card on March 25th.,” Legaspi tweeted. “Not done yet but is expected to serve as a 5 round main event as reported by @LynchOnSports.”
Undefeated in her last five Octagon appearances, Pennington most recently defeated common-foe, Kelten Vieira at UFC Vegas 67 earlier this month, adding to prior successes over Aspen Ladd, Macy Chiasson, Pannie Kianzad, and Marion Reneau.
Headlining UFC 224 in May 2018 in Brazilian, Pennington suffered a one-sided eventual fifth round TKO loss to current undisputed bantamweight and featherweight champion, Nunes.
Expected recently to feature against Bahia native, Nunes at UFC 285 on March 4. – Aldana appears to have since landed a potential title-eliminator against Pennington, instead, having notched her recent wins over Kunitskaya, and Chiasson.
