Julianna Pena out of UFC 171 after suffering devastating knee injury

Julianna Pena will be forced to withdraw from her scheduled bout against Jessica Andrade at UFC 171 after suffering a gruesome injury to her right knee, sources close to the situation told MMAFighting.com on Wednesday.

Pena (5-2), the first female winner of The Ultimate Fighter, suffered the injury on Monday while grappling in training, ultimately damaging, among other aspects, her ACL, MCL, LCL and meniscus. She is expected to undergo surgery next Thursday in Los Angeles.

Despite the severity of the injury, doctors have assured Pena that her right knee will return to full strength following surgery and rehabilitation.

Pena, 24, steamrolled through TUF 18 in 2013, submitting Shayna Baszler and Sarah Moras in succession before stopping Jessica Rakoczy with punches in the first-round of the season's finale.

A replacement opponent for Andrade (10-3) has been found. Raquel Pennington will take Pena's place.

UFC 171 takes place March 15, 2014 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX. An updated fight card can be seen below.

• Johny Hendricks vs. Robbie Lawler
• Carlos Condit vs. Tyron Woodley
• Diego Sanchez vs. Myles Jury
• Hector Lombard vs. Jake Shields
• Thiago Silva vs. Ovince St. Preux
• Kelvin Gastelum vs. Rick Story
• Jessica Andrade vs. Raquel Pennington
  
• Dennis Bermudez vs. Jimy Hettes
• Bubba McDaniel vs. Tor Troeng
• Will Campuzano vs. Justin Scoggins
• Alex Garcia vs. Sean Spencer
• Renee Forte vs. Frank Trevino
• Daniel Pineda vs. Robert Whiteford