Raquel Pennington vs. Mayra Bueno Silva to fight for the vacant women’s bantamweight title at UFC 297, Islam Makhachev vs. Charles Oliveira 2 in the works

Dana White and company are planning to rebook the Islam Makhachev vs. Charles Oliveira rematch for January’s UFC 297 event in Toronto.

Makhachev (25-1 MMA) and Oliveira (34-9 MMA) originally collided for the promotion’s vacant lightweight title at UFC 280 in October of 2022, with the Dagestani fighter emerging victorious by way of second round submission.

After Makhachev defeated Alexander Volkanovski by unanimous decision, and Charles Oliveira returned to the win column with a first round finish over Beneil Dariush, the pair were booked to rematch at last month’s UFC 294 event in Abu Dhabi.

Unfortunately for fight fans, ‘Do Bronx’ suffered a nasty cut just two weeks prior to the fight and was ultimately forced to withdraw from the contest. With that, Alexander Volkanovski stepped up on 10 days notice to rematch Islam Makhachev at UFC 294, which saw the Russian standout retain his 155lbs title by way of first round knockout.

According to MMA journalist Ariel Helwani, Dana White and company are now planning to rebook the Islam Makhachev vs. Charles Oliveira rematch for the headliner of January’s UFC 297 event in Toronto, Canada.

The current plan – though not finalized just yet – is to have Islam Makhachev x Charles Oliveira 2 – headline UFC 297. That event, while not officially announced yet, is currently slated to Jan. 20 in Toronto.

The original plan for that main was Volkanovski x Topuria, but now…

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) November 4, 2023

“The current plan – though not finalized just yet – is to have Islam Makhachev x Charles Oliveira 2 – headline UFC 297. That event, while not officially announced yet, is currently slated to Jan. 20 in Toronto.

The original plan for that main was Volkanovski x Topuria, but now the plan is for that to be on the February PPV.

Raquel Pennington x Mayra Bueno Silva for the vacant 135 title also scheduled for that January card, as reported yesterday.”

While the Islam Makhachev vs. Charles Oliveira rematch is still in the works for January 20, UFC 297 already has one title fight booked as Raquel Pennington is set to square off with Mayra Bueno Silva for the promotion’s currently vacant women’s bantamweight world title.

Pennington (15-8 MMA) will enter the contest on a five-fight winning streak, her most recent being a split decision win over Ketlen Vieira.

Meanwhile, Mayra Bueno Silva (10-2-1 MMA) was last seen in action this past July, where she scored a submission victory over former division champion Holly Holm. That win was later overturned to a no contest, this after Silva tested positive for Ritalin IV acid.

Who are you picking to win the slated rematch between Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira?