Megan Anderson says Amanda Nunes out of UFC 256, title fight pushed to 2021

It appears Megan Anderson’s shot at the woman widely regarded as the best female fighter in MMA history will have to wait.

Anderson (11-4 MMA, 3-2 UFC) was set to take on women’s bantamweight and featherweight champion Amanda Nunes (20-4 MMA, 13-1 UFC) for the 145-pound title at UFC 256 next month. But now, the fight reportedly is off.

Anderson on Monday posted on Twitter three broken-heart emojis, leaving her message open to interpretation. But less than an hour later, she posted another message saying she is wishing Nunes a fast recovery in response to a tweet from UFC broadcast partner ESPN saying the title fight is off.

Anderson said the UFC will rebook the title fight for early 2021.

— Megan Anderson (@MeganA_mma) November 9, 2020

Wishing Amanda a speedy recovery UFC are rescheduling the bout for a date early next year.

The goal remains the same We’ll be ready.. https://t.co/APZt4zUkS0

— Megan Anderson (@MeganA_mma) November 9, 2020

Anderson was set to challenge Nunens at UFC 256, which takes place Dec. 12 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas

Nunes is riding an 11-fight winning streak that dates back nearly six years. She’s been on a tear after 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 through the previously near-unstoppable Cris Cyborg in just 51 seconds to win the featherweight title in December 2018, making her a simultaneous two-division champion.

Unlike other UFC dual champs, Nunes has not had to relinquish one of the belts. Instead, she’s been able to defend both titles. In June, she put the 145-pound strap up for the first time against a gritty Felicia Spencer and won a unanimous decision at UFC 250. It was her eighth straight title fight victory spread out over the two divisions.

Anderson is a former Invicta FC featherweight titleholder, but has had ups and downs since coming to the UFC in 2018. She lost her promotional debut to former bantamweight champ 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 couldn’t see from an accidental eye poke.

After that win, Anderson fought fellow ex-Invicta champ 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 of Zarah Fairn at UFC 243, and in February she knocked out Norma Dumont for her first UFC winning streak.