Megan Anderson In Position To Make History At UFC 259

When it comes to Anderson’s growth and development in the Octagon, that’s relatively plain to see as well. She was originally booked to make her UFC debut at UFC 214 against Cris Cyborg for the vacant featherweight title, but that fight never happened. A bumpy road followed, including losing two of her first three fights. Her fourth fight in the promotion at UFC 243 felt like it carried particularly high stakes, and her first-round submission earned what appeared to be a cathartic win, according to her Glory MMA coach, James Krause.

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“The win in Melbourne, for her, was a huge mental hurdle that she overcame because it was her first – in her head – her first real win,” Krause said. “With the Cat fight, she won, but there was a lot of controversy. I didn’t see it being much controversy, but in her head, I could tell, she didn’t really accept that as a win. She wouldn’t accept that one as a win, which is fine. The fight in Melbourne, she finally overcame that.

"She got a legitimate, in her head, a legitimate win, and that’s what she needed to be like, ‘OK, I belong here now.’ Obviously, we’ve seen when she fought Norma (Dumont), big difference in her confidence. She just looked like a different fighter, so I definitely think that fight was a huge mental hurdle for her that she overcame and she passed with flying colors.”

The win over Dumont came more than a year ago in Norfolk, when Anderson landed an emphatic right hand on the Brazilian, dropping her and ending the bout about halfway through the round. She almost immediately pointed straight to Krause Octagonside for what she described afterwards as “a moment” between the two.

That win set her up for a title shot once Nunes dominated Felicia Spencer at UFC 250. First booked for December, the bout was pushed back to March, where it will occupy the co-main slot at UFC 259. In total, the camp lasted about seven months – a long wait extended even longer for Anderson’s shot at gold, and a test of all the changes she and her team have made in the last couple years.

“We did a really good job of balancing,” Anderson said. “One of the risks of having such a long camp is you run the risk of burning out and not peaking when you need to, so if I was feeling a little bit worn down, I would take a couple days off, or I would take a week off. My problem is I struggle to eat enough, so James would be like, ‘Go eat,’ or just, ‘Go take a day,’ or, ‘Go have a rest,’ or, ‘Just drill. Don’t go live.’ We had to manage that a lot better so we didn’t burn out, and we were able to perform when we needed to.”

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That time in Kansas City, where Anderson has made her home for more than a half-decade, has helped establish the kind of connections that allow unspoken understanding and frank conversation between athlete and coach.

“Obviously, the more you work with somebody, the easier it is to talk to them, learn what makes them tick and stuff like that,” Krause said. “She’s been at the gym for quite a while, so I know her pretty well. She’s definitely a person that doesn’t like to say she’s not feeling good or whatever, but it’s also easy to tell whenever something is a little off. I think just keeping her focused within a long period of time is the most important thing that we’ve had to deal with so far.”

Fighting a woman who is considered the consensus greatest women’s mixed martial artist of all-time and one of the best to do it bar-none can come with a certain amount of pressure and a particularly bright spotlight. For Anderson, she hasn’t really felt fazed by the extra attention, citing that her fight weeks are often pretty busy regardless.