In a decision that does not come as a surprise, the UFC is getting rid of the women’s featherweight division. The news was revealed by Megan Anderson (11-5) this evening on her Twitch Live Stream.
Anderson said that the UFC has informed her that the promotion is getting rid of featherweight and they will not be retaining her. UFC 259 was Anderson’s final fight on her current contract with the promotion.
Of course, Anderson lost in her title fight to Amanda Nunes (21-4). Earlier today, we posted an article about what could be next for Megan Anderson. However, it was hard to find any options for Anderson given the lack of fighters at 145 pounds.
The UFC currently has one final featherweight bout already booked for May. That matchup will feature former title challenger Felicia Spencer and Danyelle Wolf. For now, this will be the final women’s featherweight fight in the UFC.
UFC’s next steps
The writing was on the wall for the featherweight division. The UFC only had a handful of fighters in the division and the only two viable challengers to the champion were completely dominated in their attempts at the title.
Keeping the division didn’t make much sense at this point. Amanda Nunes said after UFC 259 that she doesn’t want to give up her title and wants to keep her champ-champ status.
The promotion absolutely loves Nunes so my guess is they will let her keep the title of featherweight champion. However, the division as a whole will no longer exist until the promotion finds a challenger for Nunes.
Megan Anderson will now hit the open market as a free agent. After the fight in May, Felicia Spencer and Danyelle Wolf will also be released from their UFC contracts unless they can make 135 pounds. Amanda Nunes will now return exclusively to bantamweight to defend her 135 pound title.