The upcoming UFC Fight Night 223 has an interesting women’s strawweight clash as its new main event.
Mackenzie Dern and Angela Hill will now collide one week later than initially scheduled. The pair was supposed to fight on the UFC on ABC 4 main card this weekend, but the Ultimate Fighting Championship has opted to promote the matchup as the new UFC Fight Night 224 headliner on May 20. The Nevada-based promotion had to deal with several last-minute changes as the initially targeted main event between Irene Aldana vs. Raquel Pennington was canceled after Aldana accepted to replace the injured Juliana Pena against two-division titleholder Amanda Nunes for the women’s 135-pound gold at UFC 289 next month. The change was first reported by MMA Fighting and has already been confirmed by Hill on her social accounts.
Hill (15-12, 9-10 UFC) is riding a two-bout winning streak after overcoming Lupita Godinez and Emily Ducote via unanimous decision at UFC on ESPN 41 and at UFC on ESPN 42, respectively. Prio to those wins, “Overkill” had been on a three-bout skid. The 38-year-old Alliance MMA representative is looking to climb the rankings with a victory in her next assignment.
Dern (12-3, 7-3 UFC) is looking to get back on track following a majority-decision loss at the hands of Xiaonan Yan in the UFC Fight Night 211 headliner. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert is 5-2 in her laast seven bouts, with victories over Tecia Torres, Nina Nunes and Virna Jandiroba, among others. A win over Hill would get three-time “Performance of the Night” winner Dern closer to a coveted title shot.
UFC Fight Night 223 will go down at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. The card will also feature a 185-pound clash between Edmen Shahbazyan and Anthony Hernandez, which had been promoted as the main event as recently as May 6, during the UFC 288 broadcast. Additionally, Andre Fialho will meet Joaquin Buckley in the welterweight division, among other matchups.
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