UFC 307 goes down in October in Salt Lake City and it’s looking like it might be a pretty big night for the women’s bantamweight division. Leo Guimaraes was the first to report that former PFL Champ and Olympic Gold Medalist Kayla Harrison (17-1) will make her second octagon appearance against top contender Ketlen Vieira (14-3).
The rumor right now is that the champion Raquel Pennington will be defending her title that night against Julianna Pena. However, that’s not been announced nor confirmed. If that’s the case, it’s easy to see why this matchup is going down on the same night as it pairs the second and third ranked contenders against each other.
Vieira will be fighting for the first time in over a year when she makes the walk in October. The last time we saw her was last July when she defeated Pannie Kianzad by decision. That win came on the heels of a split decision loss against the current champion Raquel Pennington. While Vieira is looked at as one of the UFC’s best at 135, this will be just her fifth fight since November 2021.
UFC 307
Earlier this year, Kayla Harrison made the jump to the UFC. After winning two PFL World Championships, Harrison made the jump to the top MMA organization in the world to try and achieve her dream of becoming a world champion. She got her debut on the biggest card of all time against a former world champion where she also made her bantamweight debut.
Harrison had never fought below 145 pounds, but she made her octagon debut at 135 against Holly Holm. Many wondered if Harrison could even make the weight. She did and then she completely ran through Holly Holm at UFC 300 and in my opinion, she should’ve received an immediate title shot.
However, the UFC promised that opportunity to Julianna Pena and they are sticking to their word.