New signee Ashlee Evans-Smith to replace injured Holly Holm at UFC 181

Last week, news of broke of boxing legend and undefeated mixed martial artist Holly Holm being forced to pull out of her UFC debut against Raquel Pennington due to a neck injury. Earlier today, a replacement was announced for Holm. UFC officials have confirmed that another undefeated fighter has been signed and will be slotted in to take on Pennington at UFC 181, that fighter will be Ashlee Evans-Smith.

Evans-Smith made major waves when she became the first fighter to defeat Fallon Fox back at CFA 12 last October to win their featherweight tournament. From there, Evans-Smith would drop to bantamweight and sign with WSOF, where she hasn’t been able to find enough fights to keep her busy. Now that she’s reached the big show, plenty of intriguing match ups await.

Here is your new UFC 181 card as it stands today:

• Welterweight Title Main Event: Johny Hendricks (C) (16-2) vs. Robbie Lawler (24-10)

• Lightweight Title Co-Main Event: Anthony Pettis (C) (17-2) vs. Gilbert Melendez (22-3)

• Heavyweight Bout: Travis Browne (16-2-1) vs. Brendan Schaub (10-4)

• Lightweight Bout: Tony Ferguson (16-3) vs. Abel Trujillo (12-5)

• Bantamweight Bout: Urijah Faber (31-7) vs. Francisco Rivera (10-3)

• Women’s Bantamweight Bout: Ashlee Evans-Smith (3-0) vs. Raquel Pennington (4-4)

• Middleweight Bout: Eddie Gordon (7-1) vs. Josh Samman (10-2)

• Light Heavyweight Bout: Corey Anderson (4-0) vs. Jonathan Wilson (6-0)

• Heavyweight Bout: Todd Duffee (8-2) vs. Anthony Hamilton (13-3)

• Bantamweight Bout: Sergio Pettis (11-1) vs. Matt Hobar (9-2)

• Featherweight Bout: Alex White (10-1) vs. Clay Collard (13-5)