Rated the greatest women's combat sports athlete of all time, Nunes (21-4) submitted Anderson (11-6) via an arm bar just over two minutes into the bout.

Queenslander Anderson was no match for the two-division champion as she was dominated by the Brazilian in her first ever UFC title fight in Las Vegas.

Nunes holds both the bantamweight and featherweight division titles and has dominated the divisions since entering the UFC in 2013.

In UFC 259's main event, Poland's Jan Blachowicz retained his light-heavyweight title over middleweight champion Israel Adesanya via decision.

Blachowicz surged in the championship rounds, utilising his superior size and power with some smart take-downs and heavy ground-and-pound.

For Adesanya, the dream of becoming a two-division champion remains on hold, as the Nigerian-born New Zealander notched his first loss in the UFC.

Earlier, Aljamain Sterling won the UFC bantamweight title when Petr Yan was disqualified for an illegal knee strike in the fourth round.

Sterling (20-3) appeared disoriented and disappointed when the belt was wrapped around his waist after a fight he appeared to be losing to Yan (15-2).

Sterling threw the belt onto the canvas before he left the octagon.

The fight was stopped with 31 seconds left in the fourth when Yan drove his knee into the face of Sterling, who was kneeling on the canvas in front of him.

Mixed martial arts rules strictly prohibit such blows to a downed opponent, and the knee clearly hurt Sterling, who struggled and failed to get up for several minutes.

The bout was called off by referee Mark Smith, who had warned Yan not to throw such a strike a few seconds earlier.

Australian Associated Press