UFC 289 takes place Saturday night in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and features a women's bantamweight title headliner between current 135-pound champion Amanda Nunes and Irene Aldana. The co-main event is arguably the most-anticipated fight of the night as former champion Charles Oliveira collides with Beneil Dariush. Elsewhere, featherweight veteran Dan Ige takes on the always-exciting Nate Landwehr.
With what should be an great night of fights, here are three bold predictions for the UFC 289 pay-per-view event.
1. Irene Aldana will beat Amanda Nunes
Irene Aldana stepping into the Octagon with Amanda Nunes might seem like a foregone conclusion to many. But the first bold prediction is that the Mexican will come out on top. Whenever it comes to an Nunes title fight, it's more or less a foregone conclusion — she will more than likely emerge victorious. However, that's what made her submission defeat to Julianna Pena in Dec. 2021 all the more memorable as just about nobody expected it. It was especially surprising given that Nunes was clearly the better striker (and let's be honest, fighter). The Brazilian later stated that she had an off day and wasn't helped by having a hard camp that was affected by a case of COVID as well as bad knees. That certainly seemed to be the case as with a full and proper camp, Nunes utterly dominated Pena in the rematch at UFC 277 in July where she scored multiple knockdowns on her way to a lopsided unanimous decision victory.
The trilogy was originally set to be the UFC 289 headliner only for Pena to pull out due to broken ribs. And so, in steps Aldana who will get her first attempt at becoming a UFC champion against the greatest women's fighter of all time. Unsurprisingly, she's a pretty sizeable underdog and most fans have her losing. That said, she can be confident in her chances. For one, she's a much better striker than Pena. In fact, she might have the crispest boxing in the division. Not to mention, she is more than capable of finishing fights — her last three wins have all been knockouts over the likes of Ketlen Vieira, Yana Kutiskaya and Macy Chiasson.
Nunes will probably outclass her in the clinch or on the ground, but if Aldana is able to keep the fight standing, she's always in with a chance. She can also take inspiration from her teammate and UFC flyweight champion Alexa Grasso's win over Valentina Shevchenko in March, who many also thought wouldn't be losing anytime soon.
2. Charles Oliveira will make a statement at UFC 289
Many observers as well as oddsmakers believe Charles Oliveira will lose his next fight — but “Do Bronx” will make a statement instead. The Brazilian came off his first defeat since December 2017 when he was submitted by Islam Makhachev in their vacant lightweight title fight in October. He isn't being given an easy rebound fight by any means as he takes on the streaking Beneil Dariush, who is all but guaranteed a title shot should he make it nine wins in a row.
Dariush also believes he's the better grappler and plans on showing it — the most likely scenario is him taking Oliveira down and smothering him similar to how he did in his win over Tony Ferguson. However, Oliveira plans on returning to the win column in style and there would be no better way to earn an immediate rematch with Makhachev than by not only halting Dariush's winning streak, but also finishing him in the process.
Especially as he believes the version of himself that lost to Makhachev wasn't the real one: “It wasn’t me. I wasn’t there. This is a different Charles. This is a Charles that’s thirsty. The Charles you’re going to see is the Charles that you know, that’s thirsty for victory, that’s hungry – someone who is back at it and a lion who is always hunting. That’s the Charles that you’re going to see.”
If Oliveira is anything like his pre-Makhachev self, we can expect a finish against Dariush.
3. Nate Landwehr will earn the biggest win of his career
Nate Landwehr is currently on a three-fight winning streak with his stock reaching new heights during that run. After all, he earned performance bonuses in each of those fights, but it was his Fight of the Year candidate against David Onama that really earned him a new legion of fans.
In Dan Ige, he will face arguably his toughest opponent yet who is definitely a step above all his other recent opponents. Oddsmakers seem to believe that will play a major role as Ige is a solid betting favorite over Landwehr. However, Ige was only just on a three-fight losing streak before rebounding with a knockout win over Damon Jackson. Landwehr is much more durable than Jackson and also has momentum on his side.
Ige has never been finished in his career, but the extremely confident Landwehr is on an upwards trajectory and will likely outpoint the Hawaii native on his way to the biggest win of his career. A victory would also see Landwehr enter the top 15 in the process which makes this a pivotal fight in his career.
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