UFC 289 rundown: Nunes provides an example of the perfect retirement

Amanda Nunes retired from MMA after retaining the UFC women's bantamweight title with a dominant win over Irene Aldana in the UFC 289 main event Saturday in Vancouver.

In the co-feature, former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira got back on track with a first-round TKO of Beneil Dariush.

Here are four takeaways from the pay-per-view card.

Nunes sets the gold standard for MMA retirements

Georges St-Pierre did it first. Henry Cejudo followed suit (at least temporarily). Then came Khabib Nurmagomedov. And now Nunes has done the same.

Nunes, the UFC women's bantamweight and featherweight champion, joined the shortlist of fighters who walked away from MMA on top - which many would argue is the perfect time - in the last decade when she bid farewell Saturday night.

"The Lioness" revealed her mother had wanted her to end her MMA career for a while, reminiscent of Nurmagomedov's reason for retiring in 2020. She also said her wife and cornerwoman, former UFC fighter Nina Nunes (who is expecting a second child), had grown tired of the constant grind.

In MMA, retirements rarely come at the right time. Far too often, fighters stick around past their expiry date or retire and come back years later when they're out of their prime. Frankie Edgar retired last year after suffering three straight knockout losses. Marlon Moraes just announced his second MMA retirement after losing his seventh consecutive fight by stoppage. The legendary Mauricio "Shogun" Rua got knocked out by a relative no-name in Ihor Potieria in his swan song in January.

Nunes is still good enough to keep winning and defending her titles, but when a fighter of her caliber puts their ego aside and knows it's time to start a new chapter, it's hard not to be happy for them. Not every day does a fighter retire as a UFC champion. And never before has a fighter walked away as a simultaneous two-division champ.

"The Lioness" leaves pro MMA competition as the gold standard in both retirements and women's MMA accomplishments. She's the greatest-ever female fighter, and it'll be hard to top what Nunes achieved throughout 10 years in the UFC.

Makhachev-Oliveira 2 is the fight to make

A lot of people counted Oliveira out against Dariush. He was coming off a lopsided loss to current lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, while Dariush was running hot with eight straight victories.

But Oliveira proved it was silly to doubt him, staying composed as Dariush established ground control early and then putting the American away with a violent barrage of strikes later in the first round.

Makhachev's next challenger will almost surely be either Oliveira or the winner of the UFC 291 main event between Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje, which goes down in late July. Oliveira-Dariush and Poirier-Gaethje 2 is a mini-tournament of sorts. But the rematch between Makhachev and Oliveira ought to be the matchup that gets booked.

Oliveira did exactly what a former champion should do to earn another title shot. He fought the guy most deserving of a title shot - Dariush - and finished him in less than five minutes. It wouldn't have made much sense for the UFC to run back Makhachev-Oliveira right away. Makhachev manhandled Oliveira and submitted him in the second round of the UFC 280 main event last October. But now that Makhachev has beaten featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski and Oliveira has gotten back on track, why not give the Brazilian a chance to retake the throne?

Yes, Makhachev dominated their first fight, but Oliveira is such a creative and dangerous fighter that anything can happen when he graces the Octagon. Maybe Oliveira had an off night against Makhachev. Maybe he can set up submissions or land elbows and punches from bottom this time. Or maybe he can knock out Makhachev on the feet before the Russian grappler can even get anything going on the mat.

Makhachev-Oliveira will always be a fairly interesting stylistic matchup, and they are still clearly the two best lightweights in the world (Oliveira has finished both Poirier and Gaethje, as well as the other two top-five lightweights in Dariush and Michael Chandler). It's time to run that one back.

Dariush learns the hard way that MMA is unforgiving

What a cruel sport.

Almost anyone would argue that Dariush should've gotten a shot at the title at some point recently. He had won eight in a row, beating the likes of Mateusz Gamrot and Tony Ferguson. Though he didn't defeat a No. 1 or No. 2 contender throughout that run, Dariush's consistency made him worthy of a championship opportunity.

Dariush doesn't carry the same drawing power as a Poirier or Gaethje, and he's not as popular among hardcore fans either, so it's no surprise he's found himself in this position. Dariush is essentially the Belal Muhammad of the 155-pound division - undoubtedly one of the best but someone the UFC isn't exactly eager to give a title shot. Someone like Dariush has to work extra hard to get that opportunity.

Slightly favored to beat Oliveira, this was supposed to be Dariush's moment. He has been in the UFC since 2014 and got close to title contention years ago. He dropped off but then climbed his way back up over the course of five years, all the way to a likely No. 1 contender bout against Oliveira. Finally, he was one fight away.

But then Oliveira came in and got the victory, ending Dariush's title hopes for the foreseeable future in the blink of an eye. Now it's back to the drawing board for Dariush, and who knows if he'll ever get that title shot he should have already been given.

Malott leading the way in new wave of Canadian MMA

MMA hasn't exactly thrived in Canada in recent years - at least not in the big leagues. The UFC hadn't taken a trip north of the border since September 2019, which, for context, was six months before the pandemic hit. Fewer and fewer Canadians seem to make it to the UFC, and even fewer show actual potential. It's a far cry from the Georges St-Pierre and Rory MacDonald days that had Dana White calling Canada the mecca of the sport.

Let's just say Saturday might go down as a big day for Canadian MMA.

First of all, the atmosphere in Rogers Arena was incredible. Clearly, Canadian fans missed having the UFC in town.

More importantly, Canada got the results it wanted at UFC 289. When Canadian-born fighters Kyle Nelson, Aiemann Zahabi, and Jasmine Jasudavicius pulled off upset wins on the preliminary card, it felt like somewhat of a snowball effect. Turns out, it was. Canada went on to sweep the event, with Mike Malott and Marc-Andre Barriault picking up victories on the main card. Canadians went 5-0 on the night (6-0 if you count Diana Belbita, who is from Romania but calls Canada home).

Perhaps UFC 289 - with all the impressive performances and surprising victories - will serve as a larger-scale snowball effect in regard to the standing of Canadian MMA.

Malott's performance stood out from the rest. The 31-year-old Ontario native tapped Adam Fugitt with a guillotine choke in the second round, improving to 3-0 in the UFC with three submissions. (His first two came in Round 1.)

Malott received a huge reception from the Vancouver crowd, as did every other Canadian on the card. But more than anyone else, Malott seems like the one who could push Canadian MMA to the forefront once again.