Fresh off the news of the promotion’s return to Canada, June’s UFC 289 event has its headliner.
UFC president Dana White announced to Aaron Bronsteter of Canadian broadcast partner TSN on Friday that a women’s bantamweight trilogy bout between [autotag]Amanda Nunes[/autotag] and [autotag]Julianna Peña[/autotag] will receive top billing on the June 10 pay-per-view card, which takes place at Rogers Arena in Vancouver.
Peña (11-5 MMA, 7-3 UFC) scored a massive upset of Nunes (22-5 MMA, 15-2 UFC) at UFC 269 in December 2021 to claim the title by second-round submission. The pair had a rematch in July, with Nunes dominating for five rounds en route to a unanimous decision.
The pair will now meet one more time, with bragging rights and gold on the line.
Nunes, No. 1 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie pound-for-pound rankings, is the most decorated women’s fighter in MMA history. She is currently also the UFC women’s featherweight champ, but hasn’t defended that title since March 2021. “The Lioness” has won 12 of her past 13 fights, with the lone blemish being the loss to Peña that she avenged.
Peña, who is ranked No. 2 at women’s bantamweight, will attempt to make history and become the only fighter to defeat Nunes twice in MMA competition.
The latest UFC 289 lineup currently includes:
- Amanda Nunes vs. Julianna Peña – for women’s bantamweight title
- Michel Pereira vs. Stephen Thompson
- Jasmine Jasudavicius vs. Miranda Maverick
- Eryk Anders vs. Marc-Andre Barriault
- Diana Belbita vs. Maria Oliveira
- Blake Bilder vs. Kyle Nelson
- David Dvorak vs. Matt Schnell
- Dan Ige vs. Nate Landwehr
- Lucas Almeida vs. Hakeem Dawodu
- Aiemann Zahabi vs. Aori Qileng