There’s been an opponent switch for one of the UFC’s rising names at women’s strawweight.
First reported by Ag. Fight, MMA Fighting confirmed that #6 ranked Nina Nunes has withdrawn from her matchup with Brazilian striker Amanda Lemos at UFC Vegas 45 on December 18th. In Nunes’ place is former Invicta FC champion Angela Hill, who is #12 in the latest UFC rankings and one spot below Lemos.
Hill (13-10) is seemingly always available to fight on short notice, and assuming she does face Lemos this will be her 11th appearance inside the Octagon since 2019. She is coming off a decision loss to Tecia Torres at UFC 265 in August, dropping her to just 1-3 in her last four. If you take a closer look at her recent stretch of fights, you could certainly make the case for her to have gotten the nod over Claudia Gadelha and Michelle Waterson, but the split decisions went against her on both occasions. Her lone victory this year was a dominant decision over Ashley Yoder.
Lemos (10-1-1) didn’t have the best of starts to her UFC career — she was stopped by Leslie Smith at bantamweight, then suspended two years for a failed USADA drug test — but since serving her ban she’s been terrific down at 115 lbs. The Brazilian submitted Miranda Granger in 2019, outclassed Mizuki Inoue in August 2020, and in 2021 she’s recorded consecutive knockouts of Livia Renata Souza and Montserrat Ruiz.
UFC Vegas 45 is the promotion’s final event of 2021. The main event is a heavyweight battle between recent interim title challenger and fan favorite Derrick Lewis and rising contender Chris Daukaus.
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