UFC 225 hits both Chicago, Ill., and the pay-per-view (PPV) airwaves this Saturday (June 9, 2018) with two titles on the line. Before Robert Whittaker vs. Yoel Romero 2 and Rafael dos Anjos vs. Colby Covington, though, a former UFC women’s champion will welcome a champ from another mixed martial arts (MMA) organization when Holly Holm faces Invicta FC standout Megan Anderson. You may remember Anderson from when she was supposed to fight Cris Cyborg last year, but if you want to know more, you’ve come to the right place.
Name: Megan Anderson
Weight Class: Featherweight
Age: 28
Record: 7-2 (4 KO, 2 SUB)
Notable Victories: Peggy Morgan, Charmaine Tweet
The 6’0” Anderson started her professional MMA career 3-2 with two submission wins, then decided that submissions and decisions weren’t here thing. She enters the Octagon on a four-fight knockout streak, most recently painting her toenails in the most metal way possible to earn the interim Invicta FC Featherweight championship.
As you could probably glean from that description, Anderson is a rangy, aggressive striker with legitimate knockout power in her hands. Her punch of choice is the right cross/right overhand, set up by a busy jab and followed up by either a straight left or a dangerous left hook she doesn’t break out all too often to continue the combination. She does a far better job of maintaining range than a lot of other tall prospects I’ve seen and her volume is something to behold.
It’s not often you see someone who hits this hard and throws this many punches.
She’s got solid knees on the inside as well and can mix them in nicely with her punches. As that .gif above shows, her kicks are every bit as dangerous.
After getting dominated on the ground by Cindy Dandois in her last loss, Anderson’s grappling philosophy has been “don’t grapple.” She’s good at getting underhooks to deny takedowns, aided by the long range she prefers to operate at. If it does hit the mat, she has some solid ground-and-pound, but is generally looking to stand and get back to burying opponents in strikes.
While she avoids several of the Tall Prospect Pitfalls, she still stumbles into a few of them. Most significantly, her head is fairly static, which got her rocked by Charmaine Tweet when she got overeager against the cage. In addition, her takedown attempt on Tweet showed how limited her offensive wrestling is — she got in deep and locked her hands, but simply ran forward until Tweet hit the cage rather than turn the corner and complete it.
Her grappling defense, while improved since the Dandois debacle, also remains in question. She practically pulled Amanda Bell into mount three fights back and there are plenty of women in UFC she’d be unable to simply roll into guard against.
Opponent: Holm has the counter-striking to punish Anderson’s aggression, but Anderson’s size and superior stopping power make this a much closer fight than Anderson’s +195 odds would suggest. That said, the Aussie is taking a considerable step up in competition and hasn’t fought since Jan. 2017. Stylistically, though, it ought to be plenty of fun.
Tape: Her Invicta FC appearances are on Fight Pass.
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