Reigning UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes and No. 5-ranked 135-pound contender Irene Aldana will take center stage this afternoon for a special UFC 289 pre-fight press conference, designed to promote their upcoming championship headliner recently made official for June 10 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Aldana steps in for the injured (and emotionally gutted) Julianna Pena.
:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24625258/288_Product.jpeg)
LIVE! Watch UFC 288 PPV On ESPN+ Here!
BLOCKBUSTER BANTAMWEIGHT BATTLE! Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returns to Newark, N.J., for the first time in more than three years on Sat., May 6, 2023, with a blockbuster Bantamweight collision inside Prudential Center that will see Aljamain Sterling attempt another successful title defense against returning two-division titleholder and former gold medal-winning Olympic wrestler, Henry Cejudo. In UFC 288’s last-minute pay-per-view (PPV) co-main event, former Welterweight title challenger, Gilbert Burns, locks horns with No. 4-seeded contender, Belal Muhammad, in a five-round, 170-pound No. 1 contender eliminator match.
Aldana was previously scheduled to rematch Raquel Pennington in the main event of UFC Vegas 73 on May 20, prior to the injury to Pena, and the promotion will now ask “Rocky” to weigh in as backup for the UFC 289 PPV title fight. No word yet on what the plan is for the gaping hole atop UFC Vegas 73 but you can expect an announcement on that card in the coming days.
“So what we are doing now, first of all, love the Irene Aldana fight,” UFC President Dana White told The Schmo. “For us to move so quickly and get another fight in there, press conference [on Friday] and she’ll be there. Raquel Pennington will be the backup on that card, she’ll train, cut and make weight and if anything happens to either one of the girls, she’ll step in.”
For much more on the UFC 289 card click here.
Get the latest gear
Loading comments...