The UFC’s first ever women’s featherweight champion is back.
It’s been well over a year since Germaine de Randamie won the inaugural UFC women’s featherweight title that she’d eventually be stripped of, but now the Dutchwoman has her return to the Octagon lined up.
The UFC announced on Thursday that de Randamie will take on recent women’s bantamweight title challenger Raquel Pennington at UFC Denver on November 10th. Fox Sports 1 will broadcast the six-fight main card, although this bout’s placement is currently unknown.
De Randamie (7-3) last fought in February 2017, winning a unanimous decision over Holly Holm in the aforementioned women’s 145 title fight. She was stripped after refusing to fight Cris Cyborg on grounds of her documented PED use, and intended to return to bantamweight. De Randamie was slated to fight Marion Reneau later that September, but a lingering hand problem forced her out of that bout, and apparently the same situation arose for a planned fight vs. Ketlen Vieira in February 2018.
The 34-year-old recently spoke to MMA Fighting about her inactive stretch, her botched hand surgery, and opened up about the hatred she received from fans for her decision not to fight Cyborg.
Pennington (9-6) fought Amanda Nunes for Nunes’ bantamweight title in the UFC 224 main event back in May, and suffered a one-sided beating, losing by fifth-round TKO. Much debate occurred over her corner sending her out for the final round after saying “I’m done. I want to be done.” She later defended her corner’s decision as the right call. Prior to the Nunes loss, “Rocky” had racked up four straight wins, including a decision over former champion Miesha Tate, and a submission of current strawweight contender Jessica Andrade.
UFC Fight Night: Denver features a featherweight main event between contenders Frankie Edgar and Chan Sung Jung, better known as “The Korean Zombie.”