On Saturday, June 10, the UFC returned to Canada for the first time in nearly four years with a major pay-per-card pay-per-view in Vancouver, British Columbia, “UFC 289.” The main event will be the Women’s Bantamweight Championship bout with Bantamweight Champion Amanda Nunes (C) looking to defend her title against rookie Mexican challenger Irene Aldana (No. 5). The co-captain will include former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira (No. 1) who is looking to make his rise again in the division against lightweight contender Benel Dariusz (No. 5). The rest of the main card will include welterweights Mike Malot vs. Adam Fugit, featherweight Dan Egg (#13) vs. Nate Landwer, and last but not least to start the main card we have middleweights Marc-Andre Barriot vs. Eric Anders. There are also some fights on the prelims that you also don’t want to miss like Middleweights Nassourdine Imavov (No. 12) vs. Chris Curtis (No. 14) and also Women’s Flyweights Miranda Maverick (No. 15) against Jasmine Jasodavicius.
Now let’s talk about the main event, Amanda Nunes (22-5) comes into this fight with a streak of one fight wins with her latest bout against former women’s bantamweight champion Julianna Pena, whom she beat by decision at UFC 277 and win. back her title. Prior to this bout, Amanda would go on to defend her belt for the ninth time against Pena at UFC 269, in which she lost via submission. But before she fought Pena, Nunes was considered one of the greatest fighters ever in the sport of mixed martial arts. Nunes debuted in the UFC in 2013 against Sheila Gaff, which she won by KO/TKO. Since then, she has fought many notable competitors such as Valentina Shevchenko, Miesha Tate, Ronda Rousey, Raquel Pennington, Chris Cyborg, Holly Holm, and Megan Anderson. Before Nunes lost to Pena in 2021, the last match she lost in 2014 was against Kat Zingano seven years ago. Nunes was also the first ever Women’s Division II Bantam Featherweight Champion. It’s been almost a year since we’ve seen Nunes fight in the UFC, so I’m excited to see what she gets up to in this fight with Erin Aldana.
Irene Aldana (14-6) comes into this fight with a winning streak with her final match against Missy Chiasson via liver kick KO. Aldana made her UFC debut in 2016 when she fought Leslie Smith and lost by decision. Aldana has only lost twice by TKO/KO but every other loss has taken the decision. Aldana has defeated opponents such as Yana Santos, Ketlen Vieira, Vanessa Melo and Bethe Correia. Before Aldana debuted in the UFC, she was one of the top contenders for Invicta FC and is even fighting for the title. Irene trains out Lobo Gym MMA with top Mexican fighters like Brandon Moreno (UFC Flyweight Champion), Yair Rodriguez (Interim UFC Featherweight Champion), Alexa Grasso (UFC Women’s Flyweight Champion) and Deigo Lopes. If Aldana beats Nunes, she will be Mexico’s fourth UFC champion and Mexico’s second UFC women’s champion.
Now let’s talk about the co-main event. Charles Oliveira (33-9) goes into this fight with a loss against Islam Makhachev for the Lightweight Championship at UFC 280. But before that Oliveira was considered the champion until he was stripped of his weight loss belt at UFC 274 against Justin Gaethje which he won by finishing with round submission The first. Oliveria made his UFC debut in 2010 facing Darren Elkins and ending it with a first round submission. Oliveira has beaten many UFC lightweight competitors such as Dustin Powarer, Michael Chandler, Tony Ferguson, Kevin Lee, Clay Guida, Jim Miller and Jared Gordon. Oliveira also holds the record for most submissions and most finishes in the UFC with 16 submissions and 19 finishes. He is looking forward to another shot at the lightweight title if he can pull off this big win over Benel Dariush.
Benel Dariush (22-4) goes into this fight on an eight-fight winning streak with his last opponent facing Mateusz Gameiro, winning by decision. Neil debuted in the UFC in 2014 and his opponent was Charlie Brenneman which he won via a first round finish. Dariush has faced and beaten many of the top figures in the UFC such as Tony Ferguson, Diego Ferreira, Scott Holtzman, Drew Duber and Thiago Moises. About a year ago Benil had a scheduled fight with Islam Makhachev who is now the UFC Lightweight Champion, but due to medical issues Dariush had to pull out of the fight. Now that Bennell is healthy and ready to go, he’ll be fighting the former lightweight division champion and hopefully taking the title.
Who is our main and co-event winner?
What’s the most exciting fight guys?
Let me know in the comments below.