Holly Holm‘s withdrawal from UFC 181 was a definite hit against the card, but the UFC scooped up another interesting prospect to replace her in former Championship Fighting Alliance women’s featherweight champion Ashlee Evans-Smith. Evans-Smith will step in and face The Ultimate Fighter Season 18 alumnus Raquel Pennington.
The news was first reported by MMAJunkie.com.
Evans-Smith, who comes from a wrestling base, owns a 3-0 professional record with two TKO victories. She is best known for her 2013 win over controversial transgender fighter Fallon Fox and was last seen at World Series of Fighting 10 defeating Marciea Allen via TKO in Round 3. Evans-Smith was interviewed by Bleacher Report earlier this year by Riley Kontek as part of the Beaten Path series.
Holm was forced to withdraw from the fight due to a herniated disk, as she revealed in an interview with AXS TV’s Inside MMA. While the injury is relatively serious, the former boxing champion is not expected to be out for long.
As stated, Evans-Smith will face Pennington, who made it to the semifinals of The Ultimate Fighter Season 18’s women’s bantamweight tournament by defeating current Invicta FC fighter Tonya Evinger and Jessamyn Duke. She owns a 4-4 professional record (1-1 in the UFC) and most recently dropped a split decision to Jessica Andrade at UFC 171.
Pennington vs. Evans-Smith goes down at UFC 181 in Las Vegas on December 6. The card is headlined by two championship bouts in Johny Hendricks vs. Robbie Lawler 2 and Anthony Pettis vs. Gilbert Melendez. Stick with Bleacher Report for more details on the card as it develops.
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