UFC Fight Night 169: Smoke show in Women’s Featherweight Division
Two smoke shows in the UFC Women’s Featherweight Division at UFC Fight Night 169
Megan Anderson vs Norma Dumont
Get ready for fireworks on Saturday night. The UFC is bringing the explosives to Norfolk, Virginia on February 29, 2020. It figures to be a leap year smoke show by the time the main card winds up at UFC Fight Night 169. The major explosives will spark off in the women’s featherweight division.
The first of these two showdowns at 145 pounds on the main card at the Chartway Arena will be a battle of beauties between 10-4 Megan Anderson and 4-0 Norma Dumont. Everyone knows that the UFC likes you if you can fight. The UFC likes you even more if you can fight and you are pretty.
Megan Anderson comes in to Fight Night 169 with some mixed results recently. She has dropped 2 of her last 4 fights, including a submission loss to Felicia Spencer via rear naked choke in the first round last May 2019. That loss helps to explain why the alluring Aussie will take to the octagon first on Saturday night. She also dropped a unanimous decision to Holly Holm back in June 2018. Meanwhile she bounced back from that decision to defeat Cat Zingano with a head kick that resulted in a TKO due to Anderson’s toe injuring Zingano’s eye. She bounced back from the loss to Spencer by tapping out Fairn dos Santos with a triangle choke in the first round of their UFC 243 engagement back home in Australia.
Norma Dumont comes in to Norfolk from her native Brazil riding high on the wings of an undefeated 4-0 professional MMA record. She won two of those fights via rear naked choke submissions and two by decision. Dumont will be making her UFC debut.
Prediction: Anderson vs Dumont
When Anderson and Dumont enter the octagon on Saturday night, Anderson will enjoy a noticeable size advantage. She will tower over her opponent at 6 feet tall, and she possesses a 72 ½ reach.
Listed variably at 5’6” or 5’7”, Dumont is the shorter fighter, and she will be a significant disadvantage in terms of reach. Hers only measures 67 inches. What’s more is that she is moving up in weight. Her first four fights have all been at 135 pounds. However, she is a former national samba champion in Brazil. One would imagine she will be looking to take the fight to the mat early and often in order to neutralize Anderson’s size advantage on the feet.
However, length can also be an advantage on the ground in the grappling. In my opinion, Dumont is not only moving up in weight, but she is moving up in class as well. Anderson has been in there with some of the elite fighters in the UFC. Now that she is fighting out of Kansas City, she won’t be making such a long journey to get to the cage as Dumont coming from Brazil.
Not to mention, Anderson has just looked very strong and athletic every time she squares of inside the octagon. Dumont, not to be outdone, looked in absolutely tremendous shape at the weigh-ins on Friday.
At the end of the night, I think Anderson’s size, experience, and more of a home turf advantage will carry they day and she will find her hand raised at the end of the contest. I believe Dumont has everything to prove and is no easy pushover. Her skills on the ground will protect her from taking enough damage to cause the ref to stop the fight and she will make it to the cards. But after 15 minutes, Anderson, unmarked, will celebrate a unanimous decision victory.
Felicia Spencer vs Zarah Fairn dos Santos
The next match up of lovely ladies on the main card at UFC Fight Night 169 ignites the co-main event of the evening. 8-1 Felicia Spencer and 6-3 Zarah Fairn dos Santos look to burn down the Chartway Arena in Norfolk, Virginia. Each fighter is eager to impress on Saturday night as both are coming off of recent losses. Fairn dos Santos is coming off that triangle strangle between the thighs of Megan Anderson in Australia. Meanwhile, Spencer is looking to bounce back from stretching Cris Cyborg to the scorecards back at UFC 240 last July 2019. While she took a loss in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada against the Brazilian Cyborg, Spencer proved to any doubters that she is as tough as they come.
However, fighting out of France, Fairn will enjoy a reach a height and reach advantage. She has extraordinary athleticism and favors the stand up. She is far from one dimensional though as she has also earned her purple belt in jiu-jitsu.
Spencer, though, is a jiu-jitsu black belt. Interestingly, she is also an online algebra teacher. Did I say she was tough? She’s tough. She’s smart. And I believe she is looking to finish this fight and make a case that she is next in line to confront the Lioness Amanda Nunes for her 145-pound championship belt.
Prediction: Spencer vs Fairn
I believe that the brawn and brain of Felicia Spencer will help her outfox the hard charging Frenchwoman. Expect Fairn to bring the heat early as she will look to land strikes from the outside and try to back Spencer up against the cage. Fairn will look to tie her up in the clinch, but when she does that’s when Spencer will take her down and her jiu-jitsu skills will be no match for Fairn. Look for Spencer to win by rear naked choke.
If you enjoyed this article, please come back often and check out some of our other posts about jiu-jitsu: Should I Train Jiu-Jitsu in the Gi or No GI and Who are the Best Grapplers in Jiu-Jitsu and Should you buy a Grappling Dummy for Jiu-Jitsu and more…..
