UFC 289

UFC 289: Nunes vs. Aldana was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on June 10, 2023, at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Background

The event marked the promotion's 32nd overall visit to Canada and sixth to Vancouver, returning to the country for the first time since UFC Fight Night: Cowboy vs. Gaethje in September 2019.

A UFC Women's Bantamweight Championship trilogy bout between current two-time champion (also current UFC Women's Featherweight Champion) Amanda Nunes and former champion (also The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rousey vs. Team Tate bantamweight winner) Julianna Peña was expected to headline the event. However on May 2, Peña pulled out due to broken ribs and was replaced by Irene Aldana, who was scheduled to headline UFC Fight Night: Dern vs. Hill in a rematch against former title challenger Raquel Pennington. The latter served as a backup for the title bout.

A lightweight bout between former UFC Lightweight Champion Charles Oliveira and Beneil Dariush took place as the co-main event. They were originally booked at UFC 288, but Oliveira withdrew due to injury.

A middleweight bout between Chris Curtis and Nassourdine Imavov took place at the event. The two fighters were scheduled to face each other pre-UFC at ARES FC 2 in October 2020, but the event was canceled due to COVID-19 complications.

A welterweight bout between former UFC Welterweight Championship challenger Stephen Thompson and Michel Pereira was expected for this event. However, contracts were never signed and the bout is expected to take place at UFC 291 instead.

Matt Schnell and David Dvořák were scheduled to meet in a flyweight bout on the preliminary card. However, Schnell pulled out due to injury and was replaced by Stephen Erceg.