This weekend, the UFC will be out of the states as they make their sophomore appearance in Russia for UFC Saint Petersburg. As for next weekend, they’ll be heading down to Florida for the first time in a long time for UFC Fort Lauderdale.
There are many great fights on the line-up but unfortunately, one of them has been canceled… Again.
UFC officials revealed yesterday that former Invicta FC atomweight champion and The Ultimate Fighter season 20 alum, Jessica Penne will no longer be able to compete against Jodie Esquibel due to undisclosed medical reasons. Penne will now be replaced by her good friend and teammate at Alliance MMA, Angela Hill.
Penne and Esquibel were originally matched at UFC Phoenix in February. The fight ended up getting canceled on fight day after Penne suffered a badly sprained ankle when doing some pre-fight rolling with her team.
Like Penne and Esquibel, Hill is also an Invicta veteran as she would go onto capture the strawweight title after her rough first stint in the UFC.
Regardless of who she’s going against next, Esquibel will be searching for her first career UFC victory after going 0-2 against Karolina Kowalkiewicz and Jessica Aguilar.
The Penne vs Esquibel match-up felt like a must-win for each considering their recent outings. But with Hill in, it still has that same feel as she’s looking to snap a two-fight losing streak after being submitted in the first round (armbar) by Randa Markos at UFC Nashville.
The entire UFC Fort Lauderdale card can be seen below.
Main Card (9:00 PM EST / 6:00 PM PST on ESPN +)
- Middleweight – 185lbs: Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza vs Jack Hermansson
- Heavyweight – 207-265lbs: Greg Hardy vs. Dmitrii Smoliakov
- Welterweight – 170lbs: Alex Oliveira vs Mike Perry
- Light Heavyweight – 205lbs: Glover Teixeira vs. Ion Cuțelaba
- Bantamweight – 135lbs: John Lineker vs. Cory Sandhagen
- Lightweight – 155lbs: Roosevelt Roberts vs. Thomas Gifford
Preliminary Card (5:30 PM EST / 2:30 PM PST on ESPN +)
- Welterweight: Ben Saunders vs Takashi Sato
- Heavyweight: Andrei Arlovski vs. Augusto Sakai
- Lightweight: Gilbert Burns vs Mike Davis
- Strawweight – 115lbs: Carla Esparza vs. Virna Jandiroba
- Lightweight: Jim Miller vs. Jason Gonzalez
- Strawweight: Angela Hill vs. Jodie Esquibel
- Welterweight: Court McGee vs. Dhiego Lima
