BREAKING | Amanda Nunes and Raquel Pennington’s Fight is Official for UFC 224

While this fight has been penciled in for awhile now, the UFC has been wishy-washy about etching it in stone. As of today though, the UFC officially confirmed that Amanda Nunes will put her women’s bantamweight title on the line against Raquel Pennington. Nunes is currently rising a six-fight win streak against absurd competition, beating Miesha Tate, Ronda Rousey, and Valentina Shevchenko twice. While she’s been out for two years, Pennington is still rising a four-win run of her own.

Amanda Nunes vs. Raquel Pennington finally official for UFC 224 in Brazil. Long time coming, UFC originally targeted this as far back as December. Latest date first reported by @DamonMartin. Interesting title fight.

— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) March 8, 2018

The bantamweight title is on the line in May! 🏆@Amanda_Leoa takes on @RockyPMMA in the main event at #UFC224 in Rio! pic.twitter.com/yB8Gu4BEzJ

— UFC (@ufc) March 8, 2018

“I think I will [swap out Raquel Pennington with Cris Cyborg for the Amanda Nunes fight]. I mean, she just fought, so once the adrenaline goes down, she’s got to get checked out and make sure she’s 100-percent. And I just think [Cyborg] and Nunes is the fight that needs to happen. She’s a beast. The fight to make is her and Nunes. That’s the fight that needs to happen. Nunes wants the fight, she wants the fight, I want the fight, I’m sure the fans want to see it, too. So, we’ll get that one going.” — Dana White speaking at the post-UFC 222 press conference.

This fight between Amanda Nunes and Raquel Pennington were expected to fight at the UFC 224 card, but after Cyborg’s impressive performance at UFC 222, Dana White was thinking about swapping out the fighters. However, Cyborg expressed when asked about that possibility that it was just too soon. She wants to heal and has some personal matters to attend to, adding that she’d be ready for that huge UFC 226 card. Going down on May 12th, the UFC 224 card will also feature Lyoto Machida fighting Vitor Belfort, along with Jacare Souza’s clash with Kelvin Gastelum.

3/8/2018.