For Megan Anderson, the change in venue for her UFC 232 fight against Cat Zingano wasn’t an issue worth stressing about, but it was some other news regarding the women’s featherweight division that seemed to grind the Australian’s gears.
After winning The Ultimate Fighter Season 28, Macy Chiasson revealed she would be dropping down from featherweight to bantamweight for the first time in her career. The decision angered Anderson, as it evidenced the fragility of the women’s 145-pound weight class.
“That actually pissed me off more than the location change,” Anderson told MMAjunkie. “I’m like, ‘If you want to fight in the division, then actively campaign to fight in that division instead of taking a fight at 135.’ Or campaigning for fights at 135. This is what you get when you bring in bantamweights to open up a division that’s not their weight division.”
Regardless, Anderson is looking forward to her fight with Zingano at UFC 232 this Saturday night. After losing out in her UFC debut to Holly Holm in June, the fight with Zingano is an opportunity for Anderson to work her way towards a title shot, however Anderson would rather see the promotion sign more featherweights then receive a shot at UFC gold.
“I hope it’s a No. 1 contender. In the UFC, rankings don’t mean anything anymore. I’m hoping it’s a No. 1 contender, but you just never know. For me, I would rather see them start signing featherweights. That’s more of a priority for me than getting a title shot. I want to give a platform to show this division is marketable, this division is worth investing in and they start signing people instead of giving them fights at bantamweight.
“I really enjoy this matchup, I think we’re both very aggressive pressure fighters.” Anderson said. “I definitely don’t see Cat wanting to stand. There’s a big height and reach difference and we obviously both want to play to our strengths. It’s MMA. It’s how this game works. Definitely for us it’s not about what Cat’s been doing, it’s about what we want to do. Making those decisions in the cage, the right decisions faster when we need to and really just showing how much we’ve changed these past six months.”
UFC 232 takes place this Saturday night, December 29th, at The Forum in Los Angeles, California. A light heavyweight title fight between former champion Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson will headline the card.
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