Megan Anderson plans to return to the drawing board after an explosive loss of Amanda Nunes in the UFC 259 co-main event.
Anderson (11-5 MMA, 3-3 UFC) entered the fight as the biggest underdog to date of the two-division champion Nunes (21-4 MMA, 14-1 UFC) in the women’s title in the featherweight title on Saturday at UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The result showed why when “Leoaica” launched her way to a victory in the first round.
Nunes needed just a few clock ticks for more than two minutes to hit Anderson with blows, then closed an arm on the ground to finish the job. It was certainly not the performance the Australian challenger hoped for, but he promised to return stronger in his first post-loss comments on social media (via Twitter):
This game has the highest maximum level and the lowest minimum level. This was the one we wanted to win, but it’s the fighting game.
We will come back
Now there are legitimate questions about what the future holds for Anderson. The UFC allowed her to challenge the title in what was the last fight of her UFC contract and it is quite possible that she marked the end of her term with promotion.
Anderson has fought a record six fights in the UFC class for featherweight women and there is only one left in terms of new matches. The division has been supported for life since its inception in the UFC and it remains to be seen how the UFC brass handles it now, after Nunes emptied the tail of potential opponents.