Pereira-Rountree, Pennington-Pena set for UFC 307

UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira will defend his title against Khalil Rountree Jr. in the main event of UFC 307 on Oct. 5 in Salt Lake City, UFC CEO Dana White announced Friday.

In the co-headliner, Raquel Pennington will defend the women's bantamweight belt for the first time against former champ Julianna Pena.

Also on the card, Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson meets Joaquin Buckley at welterweight and Roman Dolidze replaces the injured Chris Curtis in a middleweight matchup against Kevin Holland.

Pereira will look to go 3-0 this year and lock up another Fighter of the Year award when he takes on Rountree in his third 205-pound title defense. The Brazilian is coming off back-to-back knockout victories over former champions Jiri Prochazka and Jamahal Hill, at UFC 300 and UFC 303 in April and June, respectively.

Rountree, the No. 8-ranked light heavyweight, surprisingly gets his first crack at UFC gold courtesy of a five-fight winning streak. The 34-year-old was scheduled to face Hill at UFC 303 but was forced out of the matchup after being suspended for unintentionally taking a banned substance. Rountree is coming off a knockout win over former title challenger Anthony Smith last December and hasn't lost since January 2021.

Pennington won the vacant women's 135-pound belt at UFC 297 in January with a unanimous decision win over Mayra Bueno Silva. "Rocky" has won six in a row.

Pena hasn't stepped into the Octagon since losing the title in a rematch against Amanda Nunes in July 2022. The 34-year-old previously dethroned Nunes, widely considered the greatest women's fighter in MMA history, via second-round submission in one of the biggest upsets of all time in December 2021.

White also confirmed previously reported UFC 307 matchups between Kayla Harrison and Ketlen Vieira (women's bantamweight), Movsar Evloev and Aljamain Sterling (featherweight), and Jose Aldo and Mario Bautista (bantamweight).