Amanda Nunes felt ‘more powerful’ at featherweight, ‘too fast’ for Megan Anderson at UFC 259

Amanda Nunes dismantled Megan Anderson in the co-main event of UFC 259 on Saturday at UFC APEX in Las Vegas, and was never in any real trouble throughout the brief fight.

“The Lioness” was at a huge reach and height disadvantage against Anderson, a former Invicta FC featherweight titleholder, but said at the post-fight press conference she didn’t even remember getting hit in the two minutes and three seconds that the fight lasted.

“In all my training camp, that position would always come out,” Nunes said of the armbar-triangle attack that forced Anderson to tap. “I take my training partner down and that position was always there. When I saw the opportunity tonight I take it. I saw she was hurt, but, tonight, my strategy was finishing her on the floor.”

“I have a training partner the same size as her. The whole time I trained with him. He has the same kind of style too, so that was very… I won’t say easy because she’s a very tough opponent, she knows how to use very well her reach. I feel like I was too fast for her and I was able to connect first.”

Victorious in her last 12 bouts dating back to 2015—a run that includes nine championship wins in two weight classes—Nunes moved one step closer to Anderson Silva’s all-time record of 16 straight victories inside the octagon, a record she aims to break now.

The UFC has yet to announce which title Nunes will be defending next, but the Brazilian would need some time to cut back to bantamweight after getting “pretty heavy” for her featherweight defense.

“I feel more powerful and the diet is better for me [at featherweight],” she said. “I feel really comfortable in this weight class.”

Arguably the greatest women to ever enter the octagon, stopping legends likes Ronda Rousey and Cris Cyborg in a matter of seconds, Nunes believes that Anderson could have been intimidated by her aura.

“The different between me and her, when I was at UFC 200, I was ready to be a champion,” Nunes said, referring to her first UFC title win against Miesha Tate.

Even though Nunes has hinted at retirement multiple times in the past, the American Top Team star seems to have found new purpose with the birth of her daughter Raegan.

“I just wanna keep doing this, keep defending my belts and see what happens in the future,” she said. “So many things are gonna happen from now on so I wanna take a chance to step back a little bit to see what’s going to happen, to see my next step. But I do wanna do something when I retire. I wanna be involved, I wanna be around of the UFC for sure, get a job here maybe [laughs]. Let’s see. It’s gonna be by next job after I’m done with this.”

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