Holly Holm is out of UFC 243.
The former UFC women’s bantamweight champion was forced to withdraw from her Oct. 5 fight against Raquel Pennington due to an undisclosed injury, sources told ESPN. It’s unclear at this time whether Pennington will remain on the card.
The injury will prevent Holm from returning to the scene of her greatest MMA triumph: her 2015 win over Ronda Rousey, which occurred in the same venue, Marvel Stadium (then known as Etihad Stadium) in Melbourne, Australia.
Holm vs. Pennington was a rematch of a fight Holm won at UFC 184. Coincidentally, the pair were originally scheduled to meet at UFC 181 for the first time, but Holm was forced to pull out of that fight due to an injured neck.
UFC 243 is scheduled to be headlined by Robert Whittaker vs. Israel Adesanaya for the UFC middleweight title.