UFC women’s featherweight and bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes is set to make her return. ESPN’s Ariel Helwani reports that Nunes will defend her featherweight championship against Felicia Spencer on June 6. Nunes’s last fight was a bantamweight title defense win over Germaine de Randamie at UFC 245 on December 14, 2019.
The UFC wanted Nunes to defend her championship against Spencer at UFC 249. Nunes spoke with CBS’s Brian Campbell on April 20 about why it didn’t come together. In the interview, Nunes said “I don’t think this is the right time for me right now to fight. Let this coronavirus pass a little bit so I can at least have a full camp. We can maybe see around June, [but] let’s see what is going to happen. But I’m not fighting [May 9].” Nunes was also dealing with an ankle injury that made the fight at UFC 249 unlikely.
This will be Nunes’s first featherweight title defense. She became the champion by defeating Cris Cyborg by knockout at UFC 232 on December 29, 2018. Nunes has been unstoppable for the past five years. She is on a ten fight win streak with victories over Valentina Shevchenko(twice), Holly Holm, and Ronda Rousey. A win over Spencer helps cement Nunes’s legacy as one of the greatest fighters in MMA history.
Spencer is not to be taken lightly. She is coming off of a TKO win over Zarah Fairn dos Santos at UFC Fight Night 169 on February 29. One of the advantages Spencer has over Nunes is that she is the bigger fighter. The former Invicta FC featherweight champion is confident that she can defeat Nunes. In an interview with BJPenn.com, Spencer discussed how she matches up against Nunes and that beating Nunes “Legitimizes her career”.
“When I beat her it legitimatizes my career for some people. People don’t think I’m worth much in the MMA world,” Spencer said. “But, her status as the GOAT wouldn’t transfer to me. For my career, it would put a stamp on it. Anyone that can say they are a UFC champion is amazing. It just solidifies my standing.”
The UFC has not made the fight official. The location for the June 6 date is still to be determined.
