Aspen Ladd vs. Julianna Pena official, full UFC on ESPN 8 card in Columbus announced

By MMA Fighting Newswire Jan 27, 2020, 11:33am EST

The full card for the upcoming UFC on ESPN 8 card in Columbus, Ohio has now been announced with heavyweights Francis Ngannou and Jairzinho Rozenstruik headlining.

On Monday, the UFC released the full card for the March 28 event, including confirmation of a showdown between potential bantamweight title contenders as Aspen Ladd takes on Julianna Pena in a pivotal matchup in the division.

Ladd is coming off a TKO win over former Invicta FC champion Yana Kunitskaya in her last outing. The 24-year-old prospect has gone 4-1 thus far in her UFC campaign including additional wins over Lina Lansberg, Tonya Evinger and Sijara Eubanks.

As for Pena, the former Ultimate Fighter winner made her return to action last July after more than two years away from the sport when she gave birth to her first child.

Pena defeated former flyweight champion Nicco Montano in her first fight back and now she’ll look to make it two in a row when she faces Ladd in March.

With reigning bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes running roughshod over every contender she’s faced in the division lately, it’s entirely possible that the winner of Ladd vs. Pena could challenge for the title by the end of 2020.

Here’s the full card for UFC on ESPN 8:

MAIN CARD:

Francis Ngannou vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik

Cody Garbrandt vs. Raphael Assuncao

Aspen Ladd vs. Julianna Pena

Greg Hardy vs. Yorgan De Castro

PRELIMINARY CARD

Tecia Torres vs. Mizuki Inoue

Matt Brown vs. Miguel Baeza

Louis Smolka vs. Davey Grant

Khalil Rountree Jr. vs. Sam Alvey

Punahele Soriano vs. Eric Spicely