Raquel Pennington Injury Nixes Potential UFC 219 Title Bout Against Amanda Nunes

A proposed bantamweight title bout between Amanda Nunes and Raquel Pennington at UFC 219 won’t be happening — at least not until 2018.

Both competitors had verbally agreed to the matchup, but Pennington suffered a leg injury in an ATV accident earlier this week and will not be able to fight on Dec. 30. Brazilian media outlet Combate was the first to report the news.

The promotion had yet to formally announce the contest. UFC 219 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and features several pivotal matchups including: Dominick Cruz vs. Jimmie Rivera; Carlos Condit vs. Neil Magny and Edson Barboza vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Pennington told MMAFighting.com that she is expecting a three to four month recovery from the injuries suffered in the accident. “Rocky” has won four consecutive bouts in the Octagon, posting notable triumphs over the likes of Miesha Tate and Jessica Andrade during her run.

After defending her bantamweight gold with a 48-second knockout of Ronda Rousey at UFC 207, Nunes made her second successful title defense at UFC 215, taking a narrow split decision over Valentina Shevchenko on Sept. 9.