AP – Amanda Nunes beat Irene Aldana by unanimous decision at UFC 289 yesterday night to hold on to her bantamweight title before announcing her retirement.
Charles Oliveira won by TKO in the co-main event against Beneil Dariush in the lightweight bout to set up a potential title fight against lightweight champion Islam Makhachev in Abu Dhabi in the fall.
“He’s got the belt and I want to be a champion so I need to go through him. Of course I want to fight him,” Oliveira said.
Nunes dominated the fight, landing far more hits than her opponent, while Aldana’s corner repeatedly encouraged their fighter to go on the offensive.
“It went exactly how I pictured it in my mind. I did what I was supposed to do,” Nunes said about her win. “When I started to mix it up. Aldana wasn’t able to do anything.”
Nunes entered the post fight press conference on crutches, revealing she has suffered nerve damage in one leg for some time.
“I did everything, I broke a lot of records,” she said about her reputation, adding she wants to be remembered as the greatest female fighter of all time.
UFC President Dana White praised Nunes after her announcement, adding that she was an icon of the sport.
“She’s been incredible to work with. She’s such a good human being… if she’s ready to go you have to be happy for her,” he said.
White added that Aldana had been taken to a hospital for evaluation after the fight.
Also, Aiemann Zahabi won by knockout against Aoriqileng, and Mike Malott beat Adam Fugitt by submission. Diana Belbita won in the preliminary fight stage while Nelson and Zahabi won in the preliminaries.
Marc-Andre Barriault won his middleweight bout on the main card before Malott’s win in the welterweight class.
