Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on
your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the
ESPN app. A surging Ultimate Fighting Championship strawweight is
getting her wish of a top contender, even if it is one that is on a
bit of a skid. On Thursday,
Combate first reported that Nina Nunes
(10-7) has her next fight booked against Amanda
Lemos (10-1). The two strawweights will toe the line at a
previously unannounced UFC
event on Dec. 18, at a currently undetermined location. Even
without a venue tagged, the show will likely take place inside the
UFC Apex in Las Vegas, as the promotion has stated that fight night
cards will be held in the Apex until the end of 2021 at minimum.
The news has since been confirmed by
other outlets.
Nunes returned from nearly a two-year layoff after having a
daughter with two-division champ Amanda
Nunes to face Mackenzie
Dern in April. The Floridian succumbed to an armbar in the
first round, thereby suffering her first submission defeat in
nearly a decade. Prior to that, Nunes had a four-fight win streak
snapped when she took on unbeaten Tatiana
Suarez at UFC 238 in 2019. That aforementioned win streak
included names like Claudia
Gadelha and Angela Hill
as she made her way up the division.
While her opponent has lost two in a row, Lemos has prevailed in
each of her last four outing since dropping down from bantamweight
to strawweight. A technical submission over Miranda
Granger started off her stretch, and she has beaten Mizuki
Inoue and put away Livinha
Souza with strikes along the way. Most recently, Lemos recorded
the
second-fastest knockout in UFC strawweight history when she
clocked Montserrat
Ruiz in 35 seconds in July.
