Holly Holm’s attempt to rebound after falling short of UFC gold earlier this year will have to wait.
The former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holm (12-5 MMA, 5-5 UFC) has suffered an undisclosed injury that’s caused a withdrawal from next month’s UFC 243 bout with Raquel Pennington (10-7 MMA, 7-4 UFC).
MMA Junkie verified Holm is out of the matchup with a person close to the situation following an initial report from ESPN.com. The person requested anonymity because the UFC has yet to make an official announcement.
Additionally, MMA Junkie has learned that Pennington will not receive a replacement opponent for UFC 243, which takes place Oct. 5 at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia, with a main card that airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass.
The fight between Holm and Pennington was meant to be rematch of a February 2015 contest at UFC 184 which saw Holm walk away with a split-decision victory.
With the scratch, UFC 243 now includes:
MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)
- Champ Robert Whittaker vs. Interim champ Israel Adesanya – to unify middleweight title
- Dan Hooker vs. Al Iaquinta
- Sergey Spivak vs. Tai Tuivasa
- Luke Jumeau vs. Dhiego Lima
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN2, 8 p.m. ET)
- Rostem Akman vs. Jake Matthews
- Yorgan De Castro vs. Justin Tafa
- Maki Pitolo vs. Callan Potter
- Megan Anderson vs. Zarah Fairn Dos Santos
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 6:15 p.m. ET)
- Jamie Mullarkey vs. Brad Riddell
- Nadia Kassem vs. Ji Yeon Kim
- Bruno Silva vs. Khalid Taha
