UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, will be the site for Saturday’s card. This set of bouts was originally set for May 9 in Brazil, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced the postponement. The headliner will feature Amanda Nunes defending her UFC Women’s Featherweight belt against challenger Felicia Spencer, a one-time Invicta FC Featherweight Champion. The co-main event will pit Raphael Assuncao against Cody Garbrandt in a bantamweight tilt. You can catch the main card on Pay Per View, with earlier fights coming on ESPN, ESPN+ and UFC Fight Pass. Take a look at the full card as well as our UFC betting Odds & thoughts on several of the matchups. Let’s analyze the Nunes vs Spencer fight.
UFC 250: Nunes vs Spencer MMA Odds & Preview June 6th 2020
Main Card (Pay Per View)
- Amanda Nunes vs Felicia Spencer (Women’s Featherweight Championship)
- Raphael Assuncao vs Cody Garbrandt (Bantamweight)
- Aljamain Sterling vs Cory Sandhagen (Bantamweight)
- Neil Magny vs Anthony Rocco Martin (Welterweight)
- Eddie Wineland vs Sean O’Malley (Bantamweight)
Preliminary Card (ESPN / ESPN+)
- Alex Caceres vs Chase Hooper (Featherweight)
- Ian Heinisch vs Gerald Meerschaert (Middleweight)
- Cody Stamann vs Brian Kelleher (Featherweight)
- Charles Byrd vs Maki Pitolo (Middleweight)
Early Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass / ESPN+)
- Alex Perez vs Jussier Formiga (Flyweight)
- Alonzo Menifield vs Devin Clark (Light Heavyweight)
- Evan Dunham vs Herbert Burns (Catchweight – 150 lbs)
Amanda Nunes (19-4, -610) vs Felicia Spencer (8-1, +455) features the latest title defense for Nunes, who took the bantamweight belt at UFC 200. Over the last four years, she has made her mark as perhaps the best female fighter ever. Ronda Rousey and Cris Justino could not make it into the second minute of the fight, and Holly Holm couldn’t get to the second round. That win over Justino gave Nunes the featherweight belt as well.
One interesting thing about UFC’s women’s featherweight division is that it is quite small, as not even Nunes is a full-time fighter at 145 pounds. However, Felicia Spencer has emerged as elite competition. Her wrestling and clinch game brought her success at Invicta, taking her to a title, and it helped her tap Megan Anderson in her UFC debut. Spencer then took on Justino but took a beating. To her credit, Spencer made that fight last a lot longer than it should have. She bounced back by beating Zarah Fairn dos Santos to set herself up as the contender again. Her striking has improved, and her grappling game is a real threat.
Nunes’ biggest problem has been an iffy cardio game, but over her career she has become more efficient. As long as she stays out of the clinch, she will bring punishment via her striking game, and I don’t see her falling prey to Spencer’s clutches enough to lose.
- UFC 250 Final Prediction: Nunes wins via knockout
Cody Garbrandt (11-3, -145) vs Raphael Assuncao (27-7, +125) is a much more evenly matched tilt. Garbrandt made a fairly swift run from his UFC debut in 2015 to the bantamweight belt in 2016, beating Dominick Cruz with swift counters and hand speed, just tallying too many points on the cards. Since then, though, Garbrandt has suffered from a number of setbacks, especially when he fights T.J. Dillashaw. Dillashaw was just too good with his movement, pulling out counters and then taking advantage of holes in the defense. Dillashaw won the rematch too, and then Garbrandt took a few months off. Then he came back, only to lose to Pedro Munhoz via first-round knockout. Garbrandt finally returns to the cage for the first time in 15 months, and this is a win that he desperately needs.
Beating Assuncao is not an easy assignment. He lost his UFC debut as a featherweight, so then he droppe down to 135 pounds and then started stacking up the wins. He fights with a patient style, relying heavily on counters to pile up the points. He made it to top contender in UFC at the bantamweight class at UFC 173 but had to withdraw because of a rib injury. That gave Dillashaw the chance to come in and take the belt. He did beat Bryan Caraway handily but then suffered an ankle injury that kept him out of the cage for about 18 months. At UFC 200 he was taken to the woodshed in a rematch against Dillashaw. He beat Aljamain Sterling and Marlon Moraes but then lost to Cory Sandhagen. Like Garbrandt, Assuncao needs a win to remain relevant in the class. Because of Assuncao’s reach advantage and Garbrandt’s lack of defensive discipline, Asuncao is the smart pick here.
- UFC 250 Final Prediction: Assuncao wins via knockout
