UFC 289 saw the octagon touch down in Canada for the first time since 2019, with the UFC setting up shop in Vancouver, British Columbia — the same locale that hosted their previous visit.
Topped by Amanda Nunes taking on Irene Aldana, a surprise retirement by “The Lioness” following a dominant victory over the challenger leaves the Mexican bantamweight in an interesting spot. We’ll play matchmaker and try to sort out what comes next.
Irene Aldana
Aldana will likely be disappointed with her low-output performance in her title challenge against Amanda Nunes, but this fight also just showed how many levels above the rest of the division Nunes is – or rather, was, now that she is retiring. With that retirement making the women’s bantamweight belt vacant, Aldana is not too far out of the title picture even after such a poor performance.
Julianna Pena and Raquel Pennington, the number one and two contenders, will likely face off next for the belt. Aldana is the fifth ranked contender, so one or two wins could put her right back in a title fight. Irene has already faced every fighter near her in the rankings: she lost to third-ranked Holly Holm but beat fourth, sixth, and eighth-ranked Ketlen Vieira, Yana Santos, and Macy Chiasson. Vieira is fighting seventh ranked Pannie Kianzad in July and the winner of that fight would be a perfect opponent for Aldana’s next fight.
Aldana’s Next Fight: Winner of Vieira vs Kianzad
Beneil Dariush
Beneil Dariush had won eight straight fights – including wins over Carlos Diego Ferreira, Tony Ferguson, and Mateusz Gamrot – before getting stopped in round one by number one contender Charles Oliveira at UFC 289. Dariush came so close to a title shot, only to be turned away at the last moment. He will be understandably upset, but he’s not done by any means just yet because of the interesting stylistic dynamic which would exit between him and champion Islam Makhachev.
Fighting this next week is the man who gave Islam his toughest test to date: Arman Tsarukyan. The ninth-ranked phenom is an incredible grappler and wrestler, with good striking to boot. Those traits are ones he shares with Dariush, which would make for another thrilling stylistic match-up between the two. Arman’s original ranked opponent, Renato Moicano, unfortunately had to pull out with injury. That left him to face unranked Joaquim Silva, who is talented but is being almost completely discounted in this fight – Tsarukyan is a -1100 favorite as of now. Assuming Tsarukyan does his job and beats Silva – which seems likely, though all MMA fans know nothing is certain – then him vs Dariush would be an amazing fight to make.
Dariush’s Next Fight: Winner of Tsarukyan vs Silva
Adam Fugitt
Adam Fugitt lost to the Canadian home crowd’s star boy Mike Malott at UFC 289. Fugitt fell to 1-2 in the UFC and will now look to get back to .500 and keep his job in the process. There are a bevy of inexperienced welterweights for Adam to fight in his next bout, but one potential option is Ange Loosa. Loosa lost his DWCS fight to now-ranked Jack Della Maddalena but made it into the UFC after one more win anyways. He is now 1-1 in the UFC, a position Fugitt was in before fighting Malott, and if the two fought it would have potential to be a big turning point in both men’s fight careers.
Fugitt’s Next Fight: Ange Loosa
Nate Landwehr
Nate ‘The Train’ Landwehr’s three-fight violent win streak was broken by ranked contender Dan Ige at UFC 289. Nate’s toughness was on full display, as always, as he made it to the scorecards despite being dropped multiple times and hurt badly. Nate will look to rebound against a fellow almost-ranked featherweight.
At UFC 288 last month, debutante Diego Lopes shocked the world when he almost submitted top-ranked, undefeated prospect Movsar Evloev. He lost the fight in the end, but he pushed Evloev to the limit and won ‘Fight of the Night’ honors for his performance. After showing he can hang with the top of the division like that, Lopes deserves a fight with a fringe-contender like Landwehr. The Mexican MMA pioneer could continue his momentum and set himself up for another shot at the rankings, as could Landwehr, with a win in this bout.
Landwehr’s Next Fight: Diego Lopes
Eryk Anders
Eryk ‘Ya Boi’ Anders looked as good as he had in years in his bout with Marc-Andre Barriault. He lost the fight by decision but won a ‘Fight of the Night’ bonus for the back-and-forth war. Coming into this fight Anders said he would fight five more times before retiring, which would put him at twenty total UFC fights. He will want to make these next four count.
Chidi Njokuani broke into the UFC by stopped Barriault in just sixteen seconds in his debut, but has fallen to 2-2 in the promotion now with two straight losses. Still, Chidi ‘Bang Bang’ always puts on a show, as evidenced by his three post-fight bonuses in four UFC fights. Both him and Anders are coming off of losses but are clearly able to put on exciting, diverse battles in the cage, and a fight between them would be on the pre-event shortlist for a bonus on any card.
Anders’ Next Fight: Chidi Njokuani
