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UFC 289 will take place on Saturday, June 10th at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada. The card will be headlined by a bantamweight title fight, where we will see Amanda Nunes defend her 135 lb strap against surging contender, Irene Aldana.
Originally, Amanda Nunes was set to face off against Julianna Pena in a trilogy bout. Pena, however, was forced to withdraw due to injury and the Mexican Aldana took her place.
Despite the replacement, the UFC have still employed a backup fighter, who is none other than Raquel Pennington.
Pennington weighed in earlier today, and the news broke on Twitter. She weighed below the championship limit at 134.9 pounds and so, will be eligible to compete for the belt in case Aldana is unable to make the fight.
If Pennington weighed in over the 135 lb limit, she could still end up replacing either fighter, but would not be eligible to win the championship. Given that she made weight, there is a minute possibility that Pennington may leave UFC 289 as the bantamweight champion, provided things go her way and she actually gets to fight Amanda Nunes.
Amanda Nunes and Irene Aldana to headline UFC 289, Charles Oliveira and Beneil Dariush to be the co-main
While Amanda Nunes and Irene Aldana will be throwing down for UFC gold, the fight many fans will be aching for is the co-main event lightweight no.1 contender fight between Charles Oliveira and Beneil Dariush.
Oliveira, who lost his belt to current champion Islam Makhachev, will look to earn a title shot and get revenge on Makhachev. Dariush, who is coming off a win against Matheusz Gamrot and is riding an 8-fight win streak, will look to secure his status as the no.1 contender with a statement win over Oliveira.
The rest of the main card features fan favorites like Dan Ige and Nate Landwehr. Fans, however, have expressed some concern over the lack of big names on the card.
Check out the whole main card here:
Regardless, the lightweight bout between Oliveira and Dariush at UFC 289 is a fight no MMA fan would want to miss.
