Please Win Megan - The Featherweights Need You

On Saturday night Megan Anderson fights Cat Zingano at UFC 232. Early in her UFC career, this is already a must win fight for the former Invicta FC featherweight champion.

It is not only the future trajectory of Anderson's career that is on the line at the Forum in Inglewood, California. Along with the personal pressure, Anderson carries the future of the featherweight division on her powerful shoulders.

The 28-year-old Australian made her UFC debut in June against Holly Holm. After a bright start that saw Anderson cut off the cage and tag her opponent with a vicious flurry, Holm's experience guided the former UFC champion to victory. For large portions of the bout Anderson was forced to fight off her back, ultimately losing via unanimous decision.

Losing, especially in that manner, was never part of the plan. The hype that followed Anderson as a major contender at 145 pounds cooled following the defeat.

If the powerful striker can turn things around with a win over Zingano and forge a successful career in the UFC, she would not be the first fighter to rebound from a disappointing UFC debut.

Eddie Alvarez, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Luke Rockhold and Anthony Pettis all lost in their UFC debuts after arriving from other promotions with championship credentials. All four went on to become UFC champions.

A similar turnaround would be great not only for Anderson, but for the featherweight division. Current champion Cristiane "Cyborg" Justino needs threatening contenders, and as far as natural featherweights go, Anderson is the only one under UFC contract.

Cyborg meets UFC bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes in the co-main event on Saturday night. It is a super fight for the ages, and offers up a lot of post match possibilities depending on the result. Not all of them are positive.

If Cyborg loses for the first time since her professional debut over 13 years ago, it is hard to see the UFC continuing to promote a division they introduced to accommodate the dominant Brazilian. Two championship belts merging back into one, with Nunes returning to her more natural weight class where the majority of her contenders ply their trade.

That is unless Anderson is able to defeat Zingano. If Anderson can not only win, but do so in the typically violent fashion we saw when she stepped into the Invicta cage in 2016-17, that opens up a future title fight against Nunes at 145 pounds.

That would also buy the division a stay of execution, with one or two rising prospects hopefully being given the opportunity to prove themselves.

Should Cyborg win, which many believe she will, then there really is nobody for her to face bar the winner of the Zingano-Anderson bout. We have seen Cyborg destroy bantamweights since she debuted in the UFC in 2016.

Leslie Smith, Lina Lansberg, Tonya Evinger, Holly Holm and Yana Kunitskaya. Do we really need to see more of the same if Cyborg beats Nunes? Given that she would have now beaten the very best that division has to offer, what value is there in a future defence against an inferior Zingano?

As for the 135 pound division, does it need Cat Zingano to re-emerge as a tepid threat? They already have a number one contender -- Ketlen Vieira -- who is a better fighter with a greater shelf life than the "Alpha Cat". Back in March Vieira defeated Zingano to send her tumbling back down the bantamweight pack.

What is clear at this point however, is that the UFC has not a single clue what they are doing with the featherweights.

In a faux-attempt to bring new blood into the division the promotion opened up The Ultimate Fighter 28 to female featherweights. Then proceeded to sign a bunch of bantamweights to compete on the show.

Defeated finalist Pannie Kianzad has fought the majority of her career at 135 pounds. Tournament winner Macy Chiasson has immediately accepted a bantamweight fight at UFC 235 against Gina Mazany. TUF 28 did literally nothing for the featherweight division.

While the UFC continue to drop the ball, it's time for Anderson to grab it with two hands and keep on running until they are forced to do better.

Nobody believes that featherweight is packed with the sort of talent that lighter weight classes are. Finding emerging quality at strawweight and flyweight is, and always will be, easier.

But it is not the complete wasteland doubters make out. The UFC's committed involvement in the division would also encourage the development and emergence of greater talent.

That might also lead to the eventual signing of Bellator champion Julia Budd when her contract is up. Cyborg, or Anderson, opposing Budd at some point in the future is a mouthwatering prospect.

Throw in UFC ready prospects like Felicia Spencer and Leah Letson, and a greater drive to challenge Bellator for the talent that is coming through at 145 pounds, and you can start to build a serviceable division.

So when Megan Anderson steps into the cage on Saturday night and stares down Cat Zingano, know that this division desperately needs her hand raised.

Give her hell Megan. There are a bunch of featherweights counting on you.