Nina Nunes Meets Amanda Lemos at Newly Announced UFC Card on Dec. 18

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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.