The UFC found its main event for UFC Vegas 73 on May 20.
The promotion announced in a press release that Raquel Pennington has been booked against Erin Aldana to headline the card at the May 20 UFC Apex. The fight is a rematch of their fight in July of 2019 in a clip which Pennington won via split decision.
Five rounds in a rematch!@tweet And MustafaHosny Oh God, Amen It will restart at our main event on May 20th! đŸ”¥ pic.twitter.com/1GTQQTS5Dz
– UFC (ufc) April 19, 2023
Raquel Pennington (15-8) is riding a five-fight winning streak and earned a split decision win over Caitlin Vieira back in January. Pennington is currently ranked No. 2 bantamweight and also on a winning streak with Aspen Ladd, Maisie Chiasson, Bunny Kianzad and Mario Rhino. This would be Pennington’s second UFC main event as she headlined UFC 224 against Amanda Nunes for the belt where she lost by TKO.
Erin Aldana (14-6) comes off with a KO win over Macy Chiasson again at UFC 279 in September. Prior to that, she scored a TKO win over Yana Kunitskaya at UFC 264. The Mexican is currently ranked 5th in the bantamweight division and this will be her second main event in the UFC. 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 went 7-4 with notable wins over Caitlin Vieira by KO, Bethe Correia, and Lucie Pudilova among others.
Along with the main event, the UFC has 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 after consecutive losses to Chris Curtis and Nasuruddin Imamov. Meanwhile, Andre Fialho is also on a two-fight losing streak and is only 2-3 in the UFC.
Another fight announced at UFC Vegas 73 is another welterweight junk between Orion Cosce and Gilbert Urbina. Cosce is coming off his first win inside octagon He also beat Blood Diamond by decision last July. Urbina, meanwhile, is coming off a loss to Bryan Battle in the final of TUF 29 in August of 2021.
With the addition of these three fights, UFC Vegas 73 now looks like this:
- Rachel Pennington vs. Erin Aldana
- Anthony Hernandez vs. Edman Shahbazian
- Joaquin Buckley vs. Andre Fialho
- Orion Cosce vs. Gilbert Urbina
- Diego Ferreira vs. Michael Johnson
- Vanessa Dimopoulos vs Karolina Kowalkiewicz
- Abdul Razzaq Al Hassan vs. Bruno Ferrera
- Ilir Latifi vs. Rodrigo Nascimento
- Viacheslav Borshchev vs. Hayiser Maheshate
- Nick Fury vs. Chase Hopper
- Victoria Leonardo vs Natalia Silva
Who do you think will win the main event May 20 between Raquel Pennington and Erin Aldana?