UFC Phoenix Loses Bout At Last Minute

Tonight’s (Sun., February 17, 2019) UFC on ESPN 1 from the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona, has lost a fight at the last minute.

ESPN’s Ariel Helwani reported that the women’s strawweight bout between former title contender Jessica Penne and Jodie Esquibel has been called off. While Penne missed weight by two pounds yesterday, it’s unclear if that is why the fight has been called:

Tonight’s Jodie Esquibel vs. Jessica Penne fight has been canceled, according to multiple sources. Penne missed weight yesterday by two pounds, but it is unclear at this time if the fight was removed from the card due to that reason.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) February 17, 2019

Interestingly enough, Helwani revealed that the bout being removed would affect the previous plans of the main card fight between Kron Gracie and Alex Caceres being the 5,000th fight in UFC history:

IF the UFC keeps the same lineup in tact, that means Gracie v Caceres will no longer be the 5,000th fight in UFC history. No confirmation on if they’ll move things around to preserve that factoid yet.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) February 17, 2019

Penne apparently withdrew this morning:

Awaiting confirmation if the fight cancelation had anything to do with Penne missing weight. Sources say she withdrew this AM. Esquibel was good to go.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) February 17, 2019

Helwani said sources told him she was injured:

Sources say Penne got injured this AM.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) February 17, 2019

Finally, word came that Penne had severely sprained her ankle warming up. It had nothing to do with cutting weight:

Jessica Penne severely sprained her ankle this AM while warming up after breakfast, her manager Brian Butler told ESPN. They tried icing, taping but it became apparent quickly that she would not be able to fight. Her withdrawal had nothing to do with the weight cut, he said.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) February 17, 2019

Penne was in need of a strong performance in order to keep her position on the UFC roster. The former Invicta atomweight champion has lost three straight bouts. She was last seen losing a decision to Danielle Taylor at April 2017’s Swanson vs. Lobov.

She was fined 20 percent for missing the weight but the bout was expected to proceed otherwise as planned. Veteran Esquibel needed to fight and emerge victorious too. She has lost her last two bouts to Karolina Kowalkiewicz and Jessica Aguilar.

UFC Phoenix will now proceed with 12 fights total as a result of Penne vs. Esquibel being called.