Ketlen Vieira-Irene Aldana Added to UFC 245
Editor's note: This article has been updated at 3:35 p.m. ET on 10/10/19 to reflect the confirmation of this matchup.
Irene Aldana is about to experience a serious step up in competition, as she will face Ketlen Vieira at UFC 245.
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Vieira has not competed since UFC 222 in March 2018, where she took a split decision over former bantamweight title challenger Cat Zingano. Unbeaten as a pro, she also holds wins in the UFC over Sara McMann and Ashlee Evans-Smith. "Fenomeno" had planned to get back in action sooner, before a knee injury knocked her out of a potential September 2018 clash against Tony Evinger. With the injury needing surgery, she has been on the shelf ever since. Prior to her removal from the rankings due to inactivity, Vieira was the Sherdog.com 4th ranked bantamweight, and she still sits in the two spot in her division on the UFC's ranking list.
While Vieira has been away, Aldana has competed four times inside the Octagon, winning three of those including a recent decision over UFC newcomer Vanessa Melo in September. While she came into the Las Vegas-based promotion sporting a 100 percent finish rate in her victories, decisions over Talita Bernardo, Lucie Pudilova and Melo have accounted for three of her four UFC wins to date. Her lone finish in the UFC came over Bethe Correia, where she became the first fighter to submit the Brazilian when she armbarred "Pitbull" in May at UFC 237.
UFC 245 goes down on Dec. 14 in the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The event will be headlined by a welterweight title grudge match between champ Kamaru Usman and former interim titleholder Colby Covington. Also on the card will be a featherweight title showdown between divisional king Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski, and two-division queen Amanda Nunes will put her bantamweight strap on the line against Germaine de Randamie.
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