Julianna Pena Injured; Irene Aldana Steps in to Challenge Amanda Nunes at UFC 289

The Nunes-Pena fight would have settled a series that sat at 1-1. At their first meeting at UFC 269 in December 2021, Pena turned the longtime two-division champ into a one-division champ, snatching Nunes' bantamweight strap by second-round submission in a near-consensus “Upset of the Year,” and one of the biggest-ever UFC title fight upsets. The “Lioness” got her revenge last July at UFC 277, regaining the belt by unanimous decision in a one-sided drubbing. The rematch was clear-cut enough that some observers questioned the need for a trilogy, including Nunes herself, who admitted that she had been expecting her next challenger to be Aldana. The 35-year-old Mexican will enter her title bid on a two-fight winning streak and having won four of five since losing a split decision to Pennington in their first meeting nearly four years ago. Aldana’s most recent appearance, last September at UFC 279, saw her stop Macy Chiasson with a rare upkick to the body in a 140-pound catchweight contest.

UFC 289 takes place on June 10 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia. It is scheduled to be headlined by the Nunes-Aldana bantamweight title fight, with a probable lightweight title eliminator bout between former champ Charles Oliveira and Beneil Dariush set for the co-main event. The event will mark the Las Vegas-based promotion’s first trek north of the border since Sept. 14, 2019, when Justin Gaethje and Donald Cerrone headlined UFC Fight Night 158 at the very same Rogers Arena.