Report: Pennington-Bueno Silva women's bantamweight title bout set for UFC 297

Raquel Pennington will face Mayra Bueno Silva for the vacant women's bantamweight title at UFC 297 on Jan. 20, 2024, in Toronto, reports ESPN's Marc Raimondi.

Pennington and Bueno Silva are the No. 2 and No. 3 bantamweights, respectively. The division's championship became vacant after Amanda Nunes retired in June following her one-sided title defense against Irene Aldana. Bueno Silva will fight for the belt despite recently having her July win versus Holly Holm overturned to a no-contest due to a positive drug test.

Former champ Julianna Pena - currently the top-ranked women's bantamweight - reacted to the Pennington-Bueno Silva matchup by saying she's injured but plans to face the winner next.

"My next fight will be for a title. Guaranteed," Pena told MMA reporter Ariel Helwani. "I feel bad. Not for myself. but for the fans that are being force-fed this horrible fight. What a disaster."

Pennington is on a five-fight win streak. She took out Ketlen Vieira by a split decision in her last bout in January. "Rocky" competed for the bantamweight crown once before, suffering a TKO loss to Nunes in 2018.

Bueno Silva had won three straight fights heading into the Holm tilt, which marked her first main event in the UFC. She submitted Holm with a ninja choke before the result was overturned.

It's unclear if Pennington and Bueno Silva will headline the Toronto card. The UFC was looking to book featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski versus up-and-coming sensation Ilia Topuria for the main event before the veteran took a short-notice bout against lightweight titleholder Islam Makhachev in late October. Makhachev knocked out Volkanovski in the first round, jeopardizing the latter's ability to fight again in three months.