The highly anticipated women’s bantamweight title bout between champion Julianna Peña and No. 2 ranked contender Kayla Harrison has been booked. UFC CEO Dana White announced on Tuesday that the two would fight in the UFC 316 co-main event on June 7 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Peña (12-5) became a two-time UFC women’s bantamweight champion in her last fight, defeating Raquel Pennington by split decision at UFC 307 last October. The fight with Harrison will be the first title defense of Peña’s second title reign.
Peña defeated Amanda Nunes to first capture the women’s 135-pound championship at UFC 269 in December 2021. Nunes won the title back in the rematch seven months later at UFC 277.
Harrison (18-1) is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and a former two-time PFL champion. She made her octagon debut on the historic UFC 300 fight card and submitted former titleholder Holly Holm. She’ll enter the UFC 316 title fight coming off a decision win over Ketlen Vieira.
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UFC 316 features two world title fights. In the main event, bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili will rematch former titleholder Sean O’Malley. Dvalishvili captured the 135-pound championship by defeating O’Malley at UFC 306 last September.
