Nunes-Peña 3 to headline UFC 289 in Vancouver
Published
After announcing that the promotion will return to Canada on June 10 for UFC 289 on Friday, UFC president Dana White confirmed to TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter that Amanda Nunes will defend the bantamweight championship against former title holder Julianna Peña in the main event.
Nunes reclaimed the bantamweight title from Pena with a unanimous decision victory at UFC 277 in July of 2022, restoring her to double champion status as she continues to hold the featherweight belt.
In their first meeting at UFC 269 in December of 2021, Pena scored one of the biggest upsets in UFC title-fight history when she submitted Nunes in the second round to capture the belt.
The defeat for Nunes snapped a 12-fight winning streak that included her bantamweight title capturing victory over Miesha Tate at UFC 200 and her first-round knockout of Cris Cyborg at UFC 232 that earned her the featherweight championship.
Nunes will be competing in her 12th straight UFC title match at UFC 289.
Pena’s loss to Nunes at UFC 277 ended her two-fight winning streak that also included a victory over Sara McMann at UFC 257.
Bronsteter also reported on Friday that a bout between Canadian Hakeem Dawodu and Lucas Almeida and a fight featuring Aiemann Zahabi facing Aoriqileng are both being targeted for the event.
Canadians Marc-Andre Barriault, Jasmine Jasudavicius and Diana Belbita were all previously reported to have fights on the card.