UFC returns to Canada for the first time in four years with a championship headliner and a potential Fight of the Year contender on the UFC 289 marquee. Amanda Nunes defends her women’s bantamweight championship against Irene Aldana while Charles Oliveira vs. Beneil Dariush should produce the next lightweight title challenger. It all goes down at Rogers Arena in Vancouver on Saturday.
Nunes was originally preparing for a third consecutive fight against rival Julianna Pena, but a broken rib forced Pena off the card. Enter Irene Aldana, the latest in a wave of Mexican fighters primed to take over the UFC. Aldana, flanked by newly crowned UFC women’s flyweight champion Alexa Grasso, looks to dethrone an all-time great in Nunes much like Grasso did against Valentina Shevchenko.
Saturday’s co-main event is sure to produce fireworks. Oliveira and Dariush appear to be next in line for a lightweight title fight with Islam Makhachev. It’s hard to imagine a fight between two submission savants with knockout power will go the full 15 minutes. Oliveira is determined to bounce back after losing a world title fight with Makhachev. Dariush is in rare form, boasting an eight-fight winning streak that stands as the best…
