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A strawweight fight between vets Polyana Viana and Emily Whitmire has been rebooked for an Aug. 29 UFC event after their initial pairing at UFC 248 was canceled.
Multiple people with knowledge of the upcoming fight confirmed the news to MMA Fighting after an initial report from Combate. Whitmire was forced to withdraw from UFC 248 when she fell ill on the day of the event, and the promotion sought to reschedule the matchup rather than shuffle the deck.
Viana is in dire need of a turnaround amid a three-fight skid including a submission loss this past August to Veronica Macedo. Despite her competitive downturn, Viana drew raves from the MMA community when she beat up a would-be thief in her native Brazil.
Whitmire also looks to rebound after a setback in her most recent outing, a UFC on ESPN 3 appearance that ended in a submission loss to Amanda Ribas.
The Aug. 29 event is expected to air on ESPN and ESPN+ and includes a light heavyweight fight between one-time title challenger Anthony Smith and Aleksandar Rakic as well as a long-awaited featherweight showdown between Yair Rodriguez and Zabit Magomedsharipov.