Khalil Rountree Jr. will face former heavyweight Chris Daukaus at UFC 289, as Daukaus drops down to the 205-pound division for a fresh start.
Khalil Rountree Jr. faces 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, on the other hand, is trending in the opposite direction 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.
A canceled 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. The updated list of UFC 289 fights includes 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, Kyle Nelson vs. Blake Bilder, and Aiemann Zahabi vs. Aoriqileng. The bout order is still to be determined.