Former title challengers Kowalkiewicz, Penne set for UFC 265

Karolina Kowalkiewicz of Poland prepares to fight Yan Xiaonan in their strawweight bout during the UFC Fight Night event at Spark Arena on February 23, 2020 in Auckland, New Zealand. | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Kowalkiewicz has not won a fight since 2018.

Once upon a time, Karolina Kowalkiewicz and Jessica Penne were among the top-ranked strawweights in the world. A lot has changed since then, but they’re both still under UFC contract and are scheduled to compete at UFC 265 on August 7th, per MMA Junkie.

Kowalkiewicz (12-6) is on a four-fight losing streak, most recently dropping a decision to Yan Xiaonan way back in February 2020. She does have a win over current champion Rose Namajunas, which propelled her into a title shot vs. then champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk. The decision loss to Jedrzejzyk ended her undefeated MMA record and she’s 2-6 dating back to that 2016 fight.

Penne (13-5) returned from a second USADA suspension and four years off overall to beat Lupita Godinez at UFC Vegas 24 in April. Beyond just the time lost to injury and the USADA ban, Penne snapped a three-fight losing skid that included her title fight defeat to Joanna Jedrzejczyk in 2015.

UFC 265 is expected to be headlined by a women’s bantamweight title bout between two-division champion Amanda Nunes and Julianna Pena. Other notable fights lined up for that card include Jose Aldo vs. Pedro Munhoz, Vicente Luque vs. Michael Chiesa, and a rematch between Tecia Torres and Angela Hill.