Facing a fellow former Invicta FC champion at UFC Rochester, Megan Anderson is ready to shut down undefeated foe Felicia Spencer.
Rochester, NY — Something’s stirring in the UFC women’s featherweight division. That is, there currently is one. Sort of. In recent months, the promotion has scooped up a couple of featherweights to join Cris Cyborg and Megan Anderson. The moves come after Cyborg was knocked out by women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes, who now holds belts in both weight classes.
That’s good news for Anderson (9-3), a six foot tall Amazon from Australia who the UFC sees star potential in. And rightfully so. Anderson has taken the time to get comfortable on the mic (and will move into an analyst role outside the UFC later this year). She’s putting the work in. And with her return at UFC Rochester against Felicia Spencer, a fellow Invicta FC champ, she’s hoping to continue fighting a little more frequently.
“Being forced to be able to take a little time off in 2017, it’s nice to be able to fight more regularly now,” she told Cageside Press and other media outlets Thursday at the UFC Rochester media day. “This will be my third fight in the space of a year, so it’s good to be able to fight regularly.”
Anderson’s weight cut became something of a story heading into the Rochester fight, thanks to a piece on ESPN. On Wednesday, she was a bit over 156lbs. “Today I did a little bit of a session with my nutritionist, and I was 152.2,” she said Thursday.
“We’re ahead of schedule. So it’s really great. It definitely is beneficial not having to add in an extra flight, on the Thursday morning [an issue with her last bout]. But we’re ahead of schedule, and I’m excited to have an easier weight cut. It’s on par to be the easiest yet.”
“It’s not an easy cut for me,” she expanded on the subject. “At 6 foot tall, I’m a big girl. I have a lot of muscle, and it is hard for my to physically, you know, walking around so heavy naturally, it is not an easy task. But I do it super healthily, I have the best nutritionist in the game – Tyler Minton. And I don’t think I’d be able to make weight without him. I just don’t have the type of knowledge myself. So I would rather put it in the hands of someone who does.”
In other words, rest assured that Anderson is in good hands, and should be on weight Friday morning.
Anderson’s match against Spencer is one of the more intriguing on the UFC Rochester card. The pair are both former Invicta FC featherweight champions. Spencer is undefeated, and making her UFC debut on Saturday. Anderson has a six inch reach advantage over her opponent, though Spencer has claimed that doesn’t impress her much.
“She brings great skills to the table,” Anderson said of her opponent. “She has an interesting style, that we’re excited to shut down. She’s young in the sport.” If that sounds familiar, there’s a reason. “I was in her position two fights ago, fighting Holly [Holm]. I know what it’s like. She wants to find a name for herself, she wants to introduce herself to a new fan base and make a statement. And we’re ready to shut all of that down.”
If successful, Anderson will be on a two fight win streak, counting a brief encounter with Cat Zingano at UFC 232 in December.
“It’s different levels when you come to the UFC,” Anderson said when it comes to Spencer’s potential undoing. “I found out with Holly, and I think [Spencer]’s going to find that out too. The difference in our opponent’s skill level is significantly different.”
The good news for Anderson is, regardless as to what happens with Nunes, and potentially Cyborg (Anderson said Thursday she doesn’t want to look that far ahead), the UFC is finally signing some girls at 145lbs. It’s not just Spencer. Bea Malecki and Duda Santana will face off at featherweight in Stockholm, Sweden next month.
“I’m excited that they’re finally signing featherweights. It took a while, but we got here,” said Anderson. “I’m excited just to see how this division grows in the next year or so. I hope it starts getting more hype behind it.”
“I feel like our job as females in the featherweight division is to showcase that there are styles in this division,” she added. “That we are exciting, we put on great fights, we put on great performances, and I hope that the brass can see that and then really start investing in it.”
Watch the full UFC Rochester media day scrum with Megan Anderson above!
