Matches to Make After UFC 289

UFC 289 saw Amanda Nunes return to defend her women's bantamweight crown against Irene Aldana as well as the two best Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweights -- aside from champion Islam Makhachev -- battle it out for a future title shot.

There were plenty of doubts about Nunes coming into the contest, as she had suffered one of the most shocking upsets in mixed martial arts history two fights ago, completely gassing out halfway through Round 2 before being finished by Julianna Pena. While Nunes had regained her crown with a dominant five-round decision against Pena, doubts remained about her motivation and creeping age. Thus, Nunes was “only” a -330 favorite or so against Irene Aldana who, despite actually being a few months older than the Brazilian, appeared to be improving in recent outings. Aldana had won her last two and four of her last five, with three of those being highlight-reel stoppages. She had knocked out fellow contenders Ketlen Vieira and Yana Santos in round 1 before stopping Macy Chiasson in the third with an upkick to the liver. Her lone defeat was being thoroughly outwrestled for five rounds by former champion and cardio machine Holly Holm.

Despite the doubts, Nunes thoroughly dominated Aldana for 25 straight minutes on the feet, and beginning with Round 3, on the ground with takedowns and ground-and-pound. It was target practice standing up, landing punches at will and destroying Aldana's lead leg with kicks. Aside from a powerful right cross that hurt Nunes late in the opening period, the challenger landed precious little offense. Nunes took the unanimous judges' nod with lopsided scores of 50-44, 50-44, and 50-43. Nunes announced her retirement after the fight, going out on top.

Many people were far more excited about the co-main event. Former champion Charles Oliveira, who lost his title to Islam Makhachev, snapping a historically great 11-fight winning streak that saw him win the UFC lightweight championship and defend it twice, returned against Beneil Dariush, who had an outstanding 8-fight winning streak of his own. Dariush got an early takedown and appeared to be winning the stanza, but late in the opening frame, Oliveira regained his feet and landed a brilliant left head kick, rocking Dariush. He followed that up with a barrage of punches, especially a right hook that perfectly smashed Dariush's chin, leading to a knockout at 4:10 of the opening round.

Here are several intriguing fights that come to mind after this pay-per-view:

Julianna Pena vs. Raquel Pennington

Pena and Pennington are ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the division, and Pena is the most recent former champion, so having them fight for the vacant women's bantamweight crown is a no-brainer. This should be a gritty, uncompromising battle between two incredibly tough martial artists and will likely be a co-main on a PPV.

Charles Oliveira vs. Islam Makhachev 2

While Makhachev beat him very convincingly last time, this is the only title fight at lightweight that makes sense, as Oliveira has clearly separated from all other contenders, as he now owns stoppage wins over the No. 2, No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5-ranked 155 pounders. And with Oliveira's absurd physical talent, perhaps as great as any mixed martial artist who has ever lived, he still presents plenty of danger against Makhachev and could well win the rematch, especially if he prepares better in terms of his gameplan as well as mental toughness.

Beneil Dariush vs. Rafael Fiziev

Both men are coming off losses, but are still top lightweights, with Dariush ranked No. 4 before losing to No. 1 Oliveira and Fiziev, No. 6. It would be a fascinating affair, as Dariush would have the obvious grappling advantage and Fiziev the striking one, though Dariush can strike well and Fiziev's grappling is also plenty potent. It could well be a huge crowd-pleaser regardless of the result and puts the winner back into serious title contention.