After suffering a loss in her first UFC title opportunity against Amanda Nunes at UFC 259, Megan Anderson has revealed that the featherweight division is no more.
The Australian took to her Twitch on Tuesday to share that she will not be returning to the UFC for her next time out. Anderson says she was informed earlier in the day that the promotion was cutting the 145-pound weight class altogether.
Scheduled to take place in May, Felicia Spencer vs. Danyelle Wolf will be the last fight in the division. Anderson’s bout with Nunes was reportedly the last on her contract.
Update: UFC officials have since denied Anderson’s claims. Spencer also has yet to hear anything about the news herself as she told BJPenn.com.
In the co-main event of UFC 259 this past Saturday, Anderson suffered her fifth career defeat when Nunes found the first-round submission via triangle armbar at two minutes and three seconds. Presumably, this news would also entail that Nunes is no longer going to be a two-division champion by holding the featherweight title.
Anderson added that she’ll be going to have an MRI on a potential elbow ligament injury this week before making any next steps in her career.
When it comes to potential landing spots for Megan Anderson as well as the few other fighters in the division – Spencer, Wolf, and Zarah Fairn – Bellator MMA has created a solid division over the course of its five-plus year existence.
The UFC introduced an official 145-pound weight class on Feb. 11, 2017, as at UFC 208, Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie battled for the inaugural title. A full four years later, and the division never at any point had more than eight fighters maximum. This even coming after The Ultimate Fighter season 28 was centered around the weight class.
Megan Anderson is 11-5 in her MMA career and enjoyed a six-fight run with the UFC going 3-3. In total, three women have held the UFC title at featherweight – the aforementioned de Randamie, Cris “Cyborg” Justino, and Nunes.
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