The woman widely regarded as the best female MMA fighter in history will return in December.
UFC women’s bantamweight and fieldweight champion Amanda Nunes (20-4 MMA, 13-1 UFC) will place her 145-pound title on the line at UFC 256 against challenger Megan Anderson (11-4 MMA, 3-2 UFC). People with knowledge of the booking confirmed the matchup on MMA Junkie on Friday following an initial report from UFC broadcast partner ESPN. The people spoke on condition of anonymity since the UFC did not publicly announce the matchup.
UFC 256 is set to take place on December 12th. A location and location for the event has not yet been set and will likely depend to a large extent on the state of the world four months from now, given the global coronavirus pandemic. But the main card will be aired on pay per view following prelims expected for ESPN and early prelims on UFC Fight Pass / ESPN +.
Nunes rides on a winning streak of 11 fights that is almost six years back. She shed tears following the lone loss of her UFC career to Cat Zingano in September 2014. She won the women’s bantamweight title at UFC 200 in July 2016 and has defended it five times.
In addition, she ran in just 51 seconds the previously near-unstoppable Cris Cyborg to win the featherweight title, making her a simultaneous champion of two divisions.
Unlike other UFC doubles champions, Nunes did not have to leave any of the belts. Instead, she was able to defend both titles. In June, she put on the 145-pound belt for the first time against an angry Felicia Spencer and won a unanimous decision at UFC 250. It was her eighth straight title victory spread across the two divisions.
Anderson is a former Invicta FC fieldweight title holder, but has had ups and downs since joining the UFC in 2018. She lost her promotional debut to former bantamweight champion Holly Holm, but picked up a TKO win over Zingano in December 2018 in controversial fashion when the fight was stopped in part because Zingano could not see from an accidental eye poke.
After that win, Anderson fought with his ex-Invicta champion Spencer and was submitted in the first round. Spencer went on to a title shot with Nunes from that win. But in October 2019, Anderson bounced back with a submission from Zarah Fairn at UFC 243, and in February, she knocked out Norma Dumont for her first UFC-winning streak.
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