Aspen Ladd has a new UFC 273 opponent.
With Irene Aldana out due to injury, former UFC women’s title challenger Raquel Pennington (13-8 MMA, 10-7 UFC) has stepped in to fight Ladd (9-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) on approximately two weeks’ notice.
Two people with knowledge of the matchup confirmed the booking Saturday to MMA Junkie but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. Eurosport NL was first to report the change.
UFC 273 takes place April 9 at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla. The main card streams on ESPN+ pay-per-view after prelims on ESPN/ESPN+.
Pennington enters the fight on a three-fight winning streak with consecutive victories over Marion Reneau, Pannie Kianzad, and Macy Chiasson. She has not lost since a January 2020 unanimous decision defeat to Holly Holm at UFC 246.
Ladd looks to rebound from an October loss to Norma Dumont. The defeat came via unanimous decision in a fight that was both Ladd’s UFC main event and featherweight debut. She is 1-2 over the span of her most recent three.
With the change, the UFC 273 lineup includes:
- Champ Alexander Volkanovski vs. Chan Sung Jung – featherweight
- Champ Aljamain Sterling vs. Petr Yan – bantamweigh
- Gilbert Burns vs. Khamzat Chimaev
- Mackenzie Dern vs. Tecia Torres
- Kelvin Gastelum vs. Nassourdine Imavov
- Aspen Ladd vs. Raquel Pennington
- Ian Garry vs. Darian Weeks
- Dricus Du Plessis vs. Anthony Hernandez
- Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Marcin Tybura
- Mickey Gall vs. Mike Malott
- Julio Arce vs. Daniel Santos
- Mark Madsen vs. Vinc Pichel
- Kay Hansen vs. Piera Rodriguez
