Former title challengers will face off at UFC 265 when Karolina Kowalkiewicz meets Jessica Penne in a strawweight affair.
On Tuesday, UFC officials confirmed that the pairing is official for UFC 265 and slated to go down on August 8. The strawweight fight is featured on the pay-per-view UFC 265: Nunes vs. Peña.
Strawweights signed for #UFC265!
🇵🇱 @KarolinaMMA vs @JessicaPenne 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/DwzjVv3ztN
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) June 22, 2021
A Closer Look At Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs. Jessica Penne At UFC 265
Kowalkiewicz, 35, will take part in the preliminary card on Aug. 8 against Penne. The Poland-native is coming off a brutal streak of losses (4). Although, sometimes records can be deceiving as the caliber of opponents that Kowalkiewicz has seen has been what many would call a ‘killer’s row’.
Specifically, the former title challenger lost to former champ Jessica Andrade. The bitterness of the loss ran deep as the Brazilian succeeded in capturing the strawweight title via slam from Rose Namajunas back in 2018 in her very next fight after Kowalkiewicz.
Penne, 38, has been a UFC staple for some time but this will be only her second fight since 2017 when she enters the cage with Kowalkiewicz. The 5″5″ American comes into the bout after coming out victorious in her last outing against Lupita Godinez. Despite the close call, Penne picked up the split decision victory.
Prior to her win against Godinez, Penne lost three straight but two were to former champions in Jéssica Andrade and, of course, former strawweight queen Joanna Jędrzejczyk respectively. Interestingly, both combatants have lost to those two monsters, but they will put that all behind them at the UFC 265: Nunes vs. Peña PPV.
The two combatants will meet in the Octagon on August 8. With the addition of Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs. Jessica Penne, here is an updated lineup for UFC 265:
Amanda Nunes vs. Julianna Peña [C]
Vince Morales vs. Drako Rodriguez
Johnny Muñoz Jr. vs. Jamey Simmons
José Aldo vs. Pedro Munhoz
Melissa Gatto vs. Victoria Leonardo
Casey Kenney vs. Song Yadong
Tecia Torres vs. Angela Hill
Vicente Luque vs. Michael Chiesa
Alonzo Menifield vs. Ed Herman
Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs. Jessica Penne
Who is your early pick between Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs. Jessica Penne?
