UFC 208 may not have the star power to sell a million pay-per-view buys, but it’s a good card to watch if you’re a diehard UFC fan. For the casual fan, there is no Conor McGregor, no Ronda Rousey and neither of the Diaz brothers are fighting Saturday night in Brooklyn.
The main event featuring Holly Holm vs. Germaine de Randamie is not just a token inaugural featherweight championship fight. This matchup is going to be better than people expect. A lot better.
While nearly every fight fan knows Holm‘s name after her stunning knockout victory over Rousey back in 2015, the same can’t be said for de Randamie, who doesn’t have that much UFC experience under her belt. But don’t think for a minute that just because de Randamie is not a household name in the UFC yet means that she isn’t going to give Holm a fight.
The Dutch contender is the real deal, and she can knock out anyone, so it might be a good idea to familiarize yourself with a former kickboxing/Muay Thai world champion.
OddsShark doesn’t see much disparity between the two fighters either. Opening lines had both Holm and de Randamie at -115, but as of Thursday, de Randamie is a slight favorite at -135 with Holm at +115.
There may not be much hype surrounding this fight, but at the end of the day, it’s a title fight between two of the most fierce strikers in the world who both need a win on Saturday.
After knocking out Rousey, Holm lost her belt to Miesha Tate and then suffered a second straight loss to Valentina Shevchenko. While Tate and Shevchenko are two very high-caliber fighters, a third loss in a row makes Holm a very tough sell for the UFC in a time where they are desperate for stars.
Some fight fans may not remember, but de Randamie actually fought current bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes not too long ago. While she did get finished by Nunes in the first round of that fight, it shows that de Randamie has gone up against some of the toughest female fighters in the game and will be ready to take on Holm in what will be a battle on the feet.
Even middleweight contender and fellow Dutchman Gegard Mousasi feels that de Randamie has a good shot at beating Holm at UFC 208.
Holm is a world-champion boxer and one of the best kickboxers in the world. Her strength is on the feet, as she can switch stances with relative ease and can pull the trigger and a high kick as fast as she can throw a punch.
The only problem for Holm in this fight, however, is that she’s going up against a fighter who can do everything she can, except just a little better with a lot more power behind her strikes.
Prediction
It would be a bit of a surprise if both women left this fight without getting knocked out or finished. Holm vs. de Randamie may not carry the name value that a PPV card probably should as its main event, but it’s worth paying for as a fan. Why? Because there will be fireworks.
Holm needs this badly to keep her UFC dream and status as a top fighter alive. A third consecutive loss will leave many pundits wondering if she’s just unlucky or if she’s just a one-hit wonder in the UFC. Holm won’t be afraid to exchange with de Randamie as she looks for a quick finish, but the problem is that de Randamie won’t let Holm get that close to her without dishing out some punishment of her own.
Even when she was at 135 pounds, de Randamie‘s power was frightening.
Now add in that she doesn’t have to cut as much weight and drain her body and wear out her muscles, she could be a wrecking ball.
The Dutch contender will circle around Holm and wait for the opportunity to counterstrike and put Holm on her back. It might not even be a bad idea for Holm to pull guard or keep the fight on the mat, because she might actually have a distinct advantage over de Randamie with her grappling and jiu-jitsu.
While Holm is not a high-level grappler by any stretch of the imagination, she is certainly more capable of a submission than de Randamie would be.
But unfortunately for Holm, she won’t break her current losing streak. She will stare down her third consecutive loss and miss out on the chance to become the first 145-pound champion and the first woman to hold two different belts in two different weight divisions.
For de Randamie, she will finish Holm in the second round with a vicious right hook that stuns Holm and puts her against the cage where de Randamie will unleash a barrage of knees and body blows to drop the former bantamweight champion before the fighters are separated by the referee.
Prediction: de Randamie defeats Holm in the second round via TKO.
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