Pennington Vs. Silva Targeted For Vacant Title Fight

A women’s bantamweight clash between Raquel Pennington and Mayra Bueno Silva is in the works for UFC 297 on Jan. 20 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to determine the next official 135-pound champion. This is according to a recent report by AGFight.

The two fighters are getting a chance to fight for the vacant title after former UFC women’s bantamweight champion and pound-for-pound great, Amanda Nunes, retired from fighting at UFC 289 this past June (see it HERE). “Lioness” was hands down the best women’s champion in the history of combat sports and left some pretty big shoes to fill. It will be up to Pennington and Silva to rise to the occasion and deliver a memorable performance to claim the belt.

Pennington, 35, is coming off five-straight wins inside of the Octagon. This includes key victories over Ketlen Vieira, Aspen Ladd, and Pannie Kianzad. The veteran contender has been one of the most consistent fighters since joining UFC back in 2013, but “Rocky” has never won the big one. This will mark the second time that Pennington is fighting for a UFC title.

Silva, 32, has been one of the biggest bright spots on the women’s bantamweight roster since early 2022. The Brazilian contender has carved out a 3-0 (1 NC) record during that span and is coming off a submission finish over Holly Holm. However, Silva eventually tested positive for a banned substance for that fight so it was ruled a No Contest. Silva is lucky that the promotion is still booking her for a title fight, but we’re guessing her ability to finish opponents is a big reason why.

UFC 297 is also expected to feature a featherweight main event between current UFC champion Alexander Volkanovski and undefeated contender Ilia Topuria, but after Volkanovski’s knockout loss to Islam Makhachev at UFC 294 that matchup in in doubt.

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