Megan Anderson is longer a UFC fighter and the promotion have denied her claims that women’s featherweight has been scrapped.
Megan Anderson is longer a UFC fighter following her loss to Amanda Nunes this past weekend at UFC 259.
UFC officials told MMA Fighting on Tuesday that Anderson had fought out of her contract following the fight with Nunes.
Speaking on a Twitch stream, Anderson confirmed her promotional exit and announced the UFC’s plans to scrap the featherweight division. It was revealed shortly after that the UFC labelled Anderson’s claims as “not true” and women’s featherweight will remain as a weight class in the promotion.
Anderson (11-5) signed for the UFC in 2017 and was booked to face Cris Cyborg for the featherweight title in her debut. Withdrawing due to injury, she faced Holly Holm the following year and lost a unanimous decision. The Australian fought six times for the UFC and went 3-3 during that time, picking up wins against Cat Zingano, Zarah Fairn Dos Santos and Norma Dumont.
According to her manager Tim Simpson, Anderson plans on healing up from the injuries she sustained against Nunes before deciding her next career move.
The two-weight champion Nunes recently stated she would be “okay” if the promotion got rid of 145-pounds. UFC president Dana White said after UFC 259 that the future of women’s featherweight lies in Nunes’ willingness to defend the title.
“We’ll keep that division cranking as long as the champ-champ wants to defend it,” White said at the UFC 259 post-fight press conference.
The UFC created an official 145-pound weight class in 2017. Since then, eight or fewer fighters have been listed in the official UFC rankings of the division. The Ultimate Fighter season 28 was based around the weight class, but it produced no new featherweight contenders and even the season’s winner Macy Chiasson has since moved down to bantamweight.