Report: Holly Holm to Face Raquel Pennington at UFC 243

ESPN's Brett Okamoto reported Tuesday that Holly Holm and Raquel Pennington will battle at UFC 243 in Melbourne, Australia, on Oct. 5.

The women's bantamweight fight will be a rematch of a UFC 184 bout from February 2015 in which Holm beat Pennington via split decision.

Holm, the No. 3 ranked fighter in the UFC's bantamweight division, sports a 12-5 professional MMA record. She most recently lost to bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes at UFC 239 in July via first-round TKO.

Pennington, ranked No. 6 in the weight class, beat Irene Aldana via split decision in July. She is 10-7.

Holm's UFC debut was against Pennington, and Melbourne is the site of her shocking knockout win over the previously undefeated Ronda Rousey for the bantamweight title.

Although she's gone just 2-5 since the victory over Rousey, Holm has faced tough competition, including Nunes, Cris Cyborg and Germaine de Randamie.

Nunes is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, and Cyborg's only loss after 2005 occurred against Nunes. De Randamie is the No. 1 contender for the bantamweight title.

Pennington's only losses since the Holm defeat occurred against Nunes and de Randamie. The Nunes defeat ended in a fifth-round TKO, and the de Randamie loss occurred via unanimous decision in a catchweight fight after Pennington missed weight.

UFC 243 is headlined by a men's middleweight title unification bout between Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya.