UFC 290 main card lineup official

The UFC's annual International Fight Week festivities return on July 8 with a stacked card highlighted by two title bouts, as UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski takes on interim champion Yair Rodriguez in a unification match in the main event, and Brandon Moreno defends his flyweight strap in a rematch against Alexandre Pantoja in the co-headliner.

UFC 290 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Volkanovski is currently MMA Fighting's No. 2 ranked pound-for-pound male fighter in the sport. He's looking for his fifth consecutive title defense after falling short against Islam Makhachev in his bid for two-division glory this past February. To do so he'll have to get past Rodriguez, who captured the interim title with a second-round submission of Josh Emmett.

Moreno and Pantoja have fought twice before, with Moreno losing both times. Their first bout came in a 2016 exhibition on TUF 24, which Pantoja won via second-round rear-naked choke. Pantoja then won the rematch with a unanimous decision in a 2018 UFC bout.

Rounding out the main card lineup is a No. 1 contender's match between former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker and rising contender Dricus Du Plessis, an exciting lightweight scrap between Jalin Turner and Dan Hooker, and a middleweight tilt pitting blue-chip prospect Bo Nickael against Tresean Gore to open the pay-per-view card.

Irene Aldana has regrets but she promises that she'll get back to the top of the mountain again.

In her first statement following a lopsided decision loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 289, Aldana addressed the fight after she didn't appear at the post fight press conference with officials insisting she get checked out at a local Vancouver hospital after the event. It appears Aldana didn't suffer any major damage outside of the sting from coming up short in her first bid at becoming UFC champion.

"It was an honor to face Amanda Nunes," Aldana wrote on Instagram. "Incredible athlete and fighter (GOAT).

"I'm sorry to have failed my coaches and all of you. I assure you that this does not stay like this. It was a bad night but the goal is still clear and the objective is still that fourth belt. I promised you and I'm going to fulfill it, whatever the cost."

Aldana walked into the fight as a sizable underdog but she became a popular pick throughout the days leading into UFC 289, especially after Nunes revealed she had previously considered retirement prior to her last win over Julianna Pena.

Despite Nunes ultimately deciding to call it a career on Saturday instead, she didn't perform like a fighter with one foot out the door because she put on a five-round classic to defend her title one last time.

As for Aldana, she was criticized for her lack of activity numerous times by the UFC broadcast team calling the event. While she managed to stick around from the first second of the fight until the last, Aldana was outstruck by Nunes by almost a 4-to-1 margin - 196 strikes to 57 strikes - gave up six takedowns and only managed 10 seconds of control time during the fight.

In the aftermath of the loss, Aldana says she already figured out where things went wrong and she's planning on fixing those errors before making her return to action.

"I have already identified this blockage," Aldana said. "I know what I have to do and this will not happen again. I give you my word!

"I'll be back for all those people who believe in me. If I have learned anything from this sport, it is to always get up. For now, I am going to return to the gym as soon as possible and work very hard to earn that second chance."

In response to her post, Nunes offered Aldana some words of encouragement.

"Rest up and get back in the game," Nunes wrote. "Thank you for sharing the cage with me."

With Nunes retiring, Aldana won't get a second chance at righting that wrong in her career but she still sits in an advantageous position in the division with the bantamweight championship now vacated.

Aldana joins fighters like Pena and Raquel Pennington near the top of the division as the 135-pound division moves forward with Nunes gone.