UFC 289 may not have been the most stacked card we’ve ever seen, but it opened the door to some big fights—including two title fights.
The event went down in Vancouver, British, Columbia on Saturday night. Headlining honors went to Amanda Nunes—the greatest female fighter in MMA history—and Irene Aldana. Nunes, who holds the bantamweight and featherweight belts, was attempting to defend the former title and ultimately did so with a clear-cut unanimous decision.
The most significant moment of the night occurred after her win, however, when she announced her retirement from competition, clearing the way for two of the many women she’s walloped to fight for the vacant belt.
Nunes’ fellow Brazilian Charles Olivera also set himself up for a title shot with a win at UFC 289. A former lightweight champion and one of the greatest fighters in the division’s history, he was returning for the first time since he lost the title to Islam Makhachev last year.
His comeback was a resounding success, as he battered the streaking Beneil Dariush to a first-round TKO win in the co-main event.
Beyond the top two fights, UFC 289 was definitely short on big names. However, Canadian welterweight prospect Mike Malott set himself up for a big opportunity, choking out Adam Fugitt in round two.
Here are the fights we’d like to see next for the stars of the card.
With Amanda Nunes hanging up her gloves, two other bantamweights will soon get the call to fight for the bantamweight title.
Our picks for that opportunity would be former champion Julianna Peña and tireless contender Raquel Pennington.
It’s not a perfect fight. Peña hardly ever fights and the only reason she’s in the title conversation is that she scored a shocking upset over Nunes in late 2021, which Nunes promptly avenged in decisive fashion. Pennington, meanwhile, is on a five-fight winning streak, but is prone to close decision wins and has never really caught on with fans.
But the two women are sitting at No. 1 and 2 in the rankings—that needs to mean something—and with other top contenders like Holly Holm and Ketlen Vieira booked for other fights, it’s definitely the best option available at the moment.
Nunes will definitely be missed, but it will be fun to see how things shake out atop the bantamweight division over the next few years, and if any of the aforementioned contenders are able to hang onto the title long-term.
In the end, Irene Aldana was no more of a threat to Nunes than anybody else the champion has dominated over the last few years. Still, she’s unlikely to lose much ground in defeat, because a fighter can only be faulted so much to losing to a juggernaut like Nunes.
As we mentioned above, many of the women ranked near the top of the bantamweight division are already booked for other fights. So, whenever Aldana is ready to get back in there, we would like to see her matched up with Brazil’s Karol Rosa.
Rosa, who is ranked No. 9 in the weight class, doesn’t have a fight booked and has yet to meet Aldana in the Octagon. She’ll also be looking to rebound from a loss, having suffered a decision defeat to Norma Dumont in April.
Book it for a future Fight Night and see if Aldana can put herself in contention for a fight with the new champion—whomever that ends up being.
Charles Oliveira put an end to Beneil Dariush’s eight-fight streak in quick and emphatic fashion at UFC 289, smashing his foe to a first-round TKO victory.
The win should him up for a rematch with the current champ Islam Makhachev.
Makhachev’s win over Oliveira—a second-round submission—was very decisive. Ordinarily, Oliveira would probably have more work to do before being granted a shot at redemption. But he is a special case. By the time he lost the title, he had won 11 consecutive fights, many of those against the cream of the crop at lightweight.
Now that he’s back in the win column, it’s time to see if the lightweight great can find a way to perform better against Makhachev. It will be a tall order, but the champion was recently pushed to the limit by featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski, so perhaps the blueprint for beating him has been created.
It’s an opportunity Oliveira wants and one Dana White seems happy to give him.
Under slightly different circumstances, Beneil Dariush might have been fighting for the title instead of battling the former champ Oliveira at UFC 289. After eight straight wins, he was certainly deserving of the opportunity, and was seemingly only deprived of it due to circumstances outside his control.
But in the end, his path led through Oliveira, and that’s where his streak ended.
It will be interesting to see how Dariush rebounds. He definitely has some work to do if he wants to earn a title shot, but it’s definitely not impossible.
Our pick for his next opponent is Kyrgyzstan’s Rafael Fiziev. Fiziev recently had his own win streak derailed by a decision loss to former interim champ Justin Gaethje, and will soon be looking to get back on track.
As the No. 6-ranked lightweight, he’s a solid test for the rebounding Dariush, and it looks like a great fight on paper, as Fiziev is one of the division’s best strikers, and Dariush is among its best grapplers. Who doesn’t love a good old-fashioned style clash?
Canadian welterweight Mike Malott is now 3-0 in the UFC, having finished Mickey Gall, Yohan Lainesse and Adam Fugitt since joining the promotion. It’s a little early to be talking about giving him a ranked opponent—as are the Georges St-Pierre comparisons—but he definitely deserves a step up in his next fight.
The time has come for him to get in there with someone with some real experience. Our pick is Icelandic veteran Gunnar Nelson.
Nelson, a former training partner of Conor McGregor, was once very highly regarded at welterweight, but is currently quite some distance from title contention due to some tough losses and prolonged stretches of inactivity. Yet he recently returned from a long layoff to submit Bryan Barberena inside a round, and if the intent is for him to stay active, he would be a great test for Malott.
Both guys are excellent grapplers with great finishing rates and the fight would tell us a lot about where they both belong in the jam-packed welterweight division. It would be a great addition to any upcoming card in Canada or Europe. Book it.