Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
The former women’s featherweight champion says she wants more respect after her performance at UFC Fight Island 4.
Germaine de Randamie was prepared to make a statement in her return to competition at UFC Fight Island 4, and she did just that against Julianna Peña. Following some back-and-forth exchanges in the first two rounds, de Randamie and Peña landed on the mat again in the third, where de Randamie was able to snatch up a tight guillotine choke that put Peña to sleep.
The submission was the first in her professional career, and it was also the first time she has ever put someone to sleep in that fashion, so she was excited by her accomplishments immediately after the fight.
Having put on a performance like that, de Randamie hopes to finally get the respect she believes she deserves.
“I honestly believe I have not gotten the respect that I believe I deserved,” de Randamie said to media during her post-fight press conference (video by MMA Fighting). “I made history a couple times in my career. A lot of couple times, and I really did not get the respect. I’ve seen in the past if you’re a jerk, [then] you get respect here in the UFC. I don’t want to be a jerk. I want to stay true to myself, but I believe I deserve a little bit more respect for all I have done in my career.”
Throughout her career, de Randamie has found success in both the bantamweight and featherweight divisions. She even went on to capture the inaugural women’s featherweight championship against Holly Holm at UFC 208. She didn’t defend the title and was stripped of it due to her refusal to fight then-top contender Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino.
Despite her tumultuous tenure at featherweight, de Randamie bounced back after returning to the bantamweight division and picked up two solid wins over Raquel Pennington and Aspen Ladd before being awarded her second championship opportunity in the promotion against current two-division champion, Amanda Nunes. She lost to Nunes by unanimous decision.
Juggling both a full-time job as a police officer in the Netherlands and as No. 1 contender in the UFC, de Randamie sees this as even more of a reason to be respected.
“I’m 36 years old. I have a full-time job. I train besides having a full-time job being a police officer. It’s not easy. I’m getting older and it’s not easy, but I still do it. So, I deserve a little bit more credit for that.”