Khalil Rountree Jr. finds himself with a unique challenge at UFC 289.
On Thursday, the UFC announced several bouts via press release for its upcoming June 10 pay-per-view event at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, including Rountree welcoming former heavyweight Chris Daukaus to the 205-pound division.
Daukaus previously racked up a 4-3 record in the UFC’s heaviest weight class. His past three fights have all ended in knockout losses, none of which made it past the six-minute mark, prompting the Philadelphia native to drop down for a fresh start.
Rountree is trending in the opposite with three consecutive victories. In his most recent outing this past September, he defeated Dustin Jacoby via split decision to boost his UFC record to 7-5 (1 NC).
Other previously reported bouts to be made official for June 10 include Dan Ige vs. Nate Landwehr, Matt Schnell vs. David Dvorak, and Miranda Maverick vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius.
Of note, a cancelled bout between lightweight contenders Charles Oliveira and Beneil Dariush that Dariush recently said was being targeted for UFC 289, was not on the list of announced bouts. That does not preclude the contest from being added to the lineup in the future.
See the updated list of UFC 289 fights below (bout order still to be determined):
Amanda Nunes vs. Julianna Peña
Stephen Thompson vs. Michel Pereira
Khalil Rountree Jr. vs. Chris Daukaus
Nassourdine Imavov vs. Chris Curtis
Dan Ige vs. Nate Landwehr
Diana Belbita vs. Maria Oliveira
Matt Schnell vs. David Dvorak
Eryk Anders vs. Marc-Andre Barriault
Hakeem Dawodu vs. Lucas Almeida
Miranda Maverick vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius