After almost five months without a champion, the women’s bantamweight belt in UFC There is already a date to have a new queen. In information initially released by Ag. Fight, the Brazilian Mayra Sheetara will face the American Rachel Pennington, at UFC 297, January 20th, in Toronto (CAN), for the vacant category title. The 61kg division was dominated by Amanda Nunes, who retired in June this year after beating Irene Aldana at UFC 289.
Currently ranked third in the bantamweight rankings, Sheetara, at 32 years old, boasts a professional MMA record of 11 wins, two losses, one draw and one unsuccessful battle. Without losing since 2021, the Brazilian is currently experiencing the best phase of her career, with three triumphs in her last four appearances in Ultimate. In the most recent duel, the Minas Gerais native submitted former champion Holly Holm, but due to a problem with medication to control ADHD, Mayra tested positive in the anti-doping test and the confrontation was considered “No Contest”.
Current number two in the rankings, Pennington is 35 years old and will fight for the bantamweight belt for the second time. The American was defeated by Amanda Nunes in 2018 via technical knockout in the fifth round. In 23 career fights, “Rocky” won 15 times, being defeated on eight occasions. In the UFC since 2013, the fighter had 17 fights, triumphed in 12 and suffered five setbacks.
According to information from American journalist Ariel Helwani, Dana White is working so that the main event of UFC 297 will be a rematch between Islam Makhachev, lightweight champion, and Charles do Bronx. The duel was supposed to take place in edition 294, but the Brazilian suffered a cut on his eyebrow 11 days before the event and was removed from the dispute.
For more UFC 297 news, click here
Carlos Targa
I’ve been in love with MMA since 2011, more specifically since UFC 129 – Spider x Belfort, when it became the number 2 sport of my life, second only to Football. Graduated in Journalism in 2019, I arrived at TATAME at the end of 2022 in a project for new collaborators and at the beginning of 2023 I became part of the reporting team. Long-suffering Corinthian, bassist on the weekends.
