Report – Holly Holm vs. Ketlen Vieira in the works for UFC on ESPN+ 68 headliner on May 21.

Former undisputed UFC bantamweight champion, the #2 ranked contender, Holly Holm is expected to mark her return to the Octagon for the first time since October 2020 – with a high-stakes bantamweight main event against the #6 rated, Ketlen Vieira targeted for the main event of UFC on ESPN+ 68. At the time of publication, the location or venue for the event are yet to be made official.

For Holm, the Albuquerque veteran headlined UFC Fight Island 5 in her most recent outing, besting common opposition, Irene Aldana with a unanimous decision win over five rounds.

For Vieira, the Amazonas native headlined for the first time in her promotional tenure back in November against common-foe, Miesha Tate – besting the former bantamweight gold holder with a unanimous decision win. Ariel Helwani was first to report the targeted tie between Holm and Vieira. 

Before her win over Aldana, Holm, a staple of Jackson-Wink MMA – landed a unanimous decision win over former title challenger, Raquel Pennington in a rematch at UFC 246 in January 2020. 

Amongst her other career wins, Holm has defeated Marion Reneau, Bethe Correia, Megan Anderson, and in a her bantamweight championship crowning, the New Mexico native stopped the then-undefeated, Ronda Rousey with a stunning high-kick knockout at UFC 193 in a massive upset win.

For Vieira, the Brazilian rebounded from a unanimous decision loss against Yana Kunitskaya with her win against Tate last November.

In her sole other professional defeat, Vieira dropped a massive late first round knockout loss to the above mentioned, Aldana at UFC 245 in December 2019 – snapping a run of four straight wins against former bantamweight title challenges, Cat Zingano, and Sara McMann – as well as Ashlee Evans-Smith, and Kelly Faszholz.

Ross Markey

Senior writer for FightBook MMA. An aspiring mixed martial arts reporter based in Ireland. Producer of news articles, interviews, opinion features, and exclusive features such as, ‘The Fallout’, ‘The Breakdown, and, ‘This Week In MMA’.