UFC 208 Weigh-In Video & Results

Going down in Brooklyn, New York this weekend is another historic event. UFC 208 sees the inaugural women’s featherweight title fight, with Holly Holm and Germaine De Randamie on podium. Former women’s bantamweight champ Holly Holm hopes to escape from the shadow of two straight losses, and get back to winning ways. ‘The Iron Lady’

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Going down in Brooklyn, New York this weekend is another historic event. UFC 208 sees the inaugural women’s featherweight title fight, with Holly Holm and Germaine De Randamie on podium. Former women’s bantamweight champ Holly Holm hopes to escape from the shadow of two straight losses, and get back to winning ways. ‘The Iron Lady’ hopes to make it three straight, with UFC gold awaiting the victor. Interestingly Holm could become the first two-time and two-weight women’s champion with a win. Featured in the co-main event are former middleweight champion Anderson Silva and hungry contender Derek Brunson.

‘The Spider’ has seen a bad run in his last five UFC fights, and looking to get back on the straight and narrow against Brunson could be tough. Wrestling has shown to be a weakness for Silva in the past, and his chin isn’t 100% what it used to be. That said, who knows what the previously dominant ruler could bring. Ronaldo Souza is back, and for some reason is fighting Tim Boetsch. Enough said.

Photo: Kamil Krzaczynski for USA TODAY Sports

Solid Card

Also showcasing Glover Teixeira vs. Jarod Cannonier & Jim Miller vs. Dustin Poirier, UFC 208 is all around a solid card. Join us at 9 AM ET for the early weigh-ins video stream and results. Alternatively you can check in at 6 PM ET for the traditional evening staredowns.

Watch the UFC 208 official weigh-in on Friday, Feb. 10 at 6pm/3pm ETPT live from Brooklyn, New York

UFC 208 weigh-in results

Holly Holm () vs. Germaine de Randamie ()

Derek Brunson () vs. Anderson Silva ()

Tim Boetsch () vs. Ronaldo Souza ()

Jared Cannonier () vs. Glover Teixeira ()

Jim Miller () vs. Dustin Poirier ()

Wilson Reis () vs. Ulka Sasaki ()

Nik Lentz () vs. Islam Makhachev ()

Jarred Brooks () vs. Ian McCall ()

Marcin Tybura () vs. Justin Willis ()

Roan Carneiro () vs. Ryan LaFlare ()

Rick Glenn () vs. Phillipe Nover ()

Randy Brown () vs. Belal Muhammad ()

The post UFC 208 Weigh-In Video & Results appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Video: Highlights From Official UFC 208 Open Workouts

On Thursday, the official open workouts for UFC 208 were held in Brooklyn, New York, one of the final stops during “Fight Week” as fans await UFC’s first pay-per-view show of 2017. Featured above from the official UFC On FOX YouTube channel are highlights from the official UFC 208 Open Workouts that included headliners and […]

On Thursday, the official open workouts for UFC 208 were held in Brooklyn, New York, one of the final stops during “Fight Week” as fans await UFC’s first pay-per-view show of 2017. Featured above from the official UFC On FOX YouTube channel are highlights from the official UFC 208 Open Workouts that included headliners and […]

Holly Holm’s UFC 208 Workout Scrum: ‘All I Can See is Victory, There’s no Choice’

History will be made this Saturday night (Feb. 11). The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will hold its first event in Brooklyn, NY. To accompany the historic event will be a historic title bout. The inaugural UFC women’s featherweight title will be decided. Former women’s bantamweight ruler Holly Holm is vying for her second UFC title. […]

History will be made this Saturday night (Feb. 11). The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will hold its first event in Brooklyn, NY. To accompany the historic event will be a historic title bout. The inaugural UFC women’s featherweight title will be decided. Former women’s bantamweight ruler Holly Holm is vying for her second UFC title. […]

Holly Holm, Germaine De Randamie Set for Title Fight in Shadow of Cris Cyborg

Just as she has her entire MMA career, Cris “Cyborg” Justino will cast an imposing shadow during Saturday’s UFC 208.
The obvious difference being, Justino won’t compete this weekend at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Instead, Holly Hol…

Just as she has her entire MMA career, Cris “Cyborg” Justino will cast an imposing shadow during Saturday’s UFC 208.

The obvious difference being, Justino won’t compete this weekend at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Instead, Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie fight for the inaugural women’s featherweight title UFC matchmakers created in hopes of putting on Justino.

Those intentions fizzled when Cyborg and the fight company couldn’t come to terms on a championship bout. Ten days following the announcement of this makeshift title matchup, they were dashed beyond all recognition after Justino was flagged for a potential violation of the organization’s anti-doping policy.

As a result, the future of the world’s actual top female 145-pound fighter remains uncertain, leaving Holm and de Randamie to battle for the championship of a purely theoretical division.

So, yeah, that’s awkward.

“We did it for her,” Dana White recently told the UFC’s Unfiltered podcast about the decision to create a new women’s weight class specifically for Justino. “Now she’s in this position with USADA [U.S. Anti-Doping Agency]. I don’t know how this is going to play out, so we’ve got to see what happens here. Hopefully this will all get smoked out soon, and I can figure out what to do with 145.”

This is just the latest hiccup in a stormy marriage between the UFC and Justino.

Even before she crossed the aisle from Invicta FC in early 2016, she engaged in contentious public spats with both White and Ronda Rousey. Since the UFC previously offered only two women’s divisions—at 115 and 135 pounds—weight has always been a sticking point. After inking her UFC deal, Cyborg’s first two appearances inside the Octagon were contested at 140-pound catchweights.

Both those fights resulted in impressive stoppage wins for Justino as well as conclusive proof that she moved the needle with MMA fans. The UFC seemed to relent its previous positions by creating a featherweight class to showcase her skills, but now with Justino potentially facing a lengthy ban, going through with this fight at UFC 208 seem questionable at best.

But marketable events are few and far between for the UFC to begin 2017, and it desperately needed to put some title—any title on the line—during its first pay-per-view event of the year.

Unfortunately, it also likely means neither Holm nor de Randamie will be greeted as a particularly inspiring first champion. That’s a raw deal for two fine competitors, but it’s reality.

Holm enters this bout trying to become the first woman to win titles in two different UFC weight classes. The longtime favorite of hardcore MMA fans burst into the national consciousness by knocking out the previously undefeated Rousey in the second round of their fight at UFC 193.

But Holm followed up that earth-shattering knockout by dropping consecutive bouts to Miesha Tate and Valentina Shevchenko and tumbled into this championship fight on the heels of two straight losses.

She badly needs to win this one to maintain a high-profile standing in the UFC and to safeguard a potential future matchup with a returning Justino or even a champion vs. champion bout against 135-pound titlist Amanda Nunes.

Even Holm seems to note the precariousness of her current situation.

“I know Cris ‘Cyborg’ is the big name in the 145-pound division, but right now with her situation, I’ll just let that pan out,” Holm said during this event’s official media call last week. “There has to be a lot to happen before our fight. She has to deal with whatever’s going on with USADA—who knows what’s going on with that—and I’ve got to get through this fight.”

One of the complicating factors for Holm is that, five fights into her UFC career, we’re still never sure exactly which version of her is going to show up.

While amassing seven straight wins on the independent circuit from 2011 through 2014, the former women’s boxing champion established a reputation as one of the sport’s most fearsome strikers. She notched six TKOs over that stretch, including this head kick against Allanna Jones that made highlight reels everywhere in summer 2013:

 

Upon arriving in the Octagon, however, Holm squeaked by in tepid decision wins against Raquel Pennington and Marion Reneau before marshaling her forces for the performance of a lifetime against Rousey. Immediately after, however, she retreated to earlier form.

The vision we have of her now is a big, athletic fighter who can be devastating when opponents bring the action straight to her but who sometimes slips into a shell when things don’t go her way.

If Holm looks uninspired or overmatched against de Randamie, it could spell the end of her time as an elite fighter.

Perhaps unfortunately for her, Bleacher Report’s Patrick Wyman forecasts a tough night in the Octagon against de Randamie:

This is a brutal matchup for Holm. She’s facing another high-level striker with a preference for outside fighting but one with better fundamentals, more power and an edge in the clinch if it goes there.

De Randamie has two options here and can beat Holm with either. If she wants to stick at long range and fight Holm at distance, she has the tools—jabs and kicks—to keep pace there while doing more damage than the American. If she prefers to pressure and work into the pocket, she can rely on her power and clinch game to get the job done.

De Randamie comes into this fight as the slight favorite, according to OddsShark. The Dutchwoman is also likely far more of an unknown to UFC fans, having made just one main card appearance while putting up a 3-1 record in the Octagon.

That one loss was a first-round TKO at the hands of Nunes in November 2013, though she’s notched a pair of TKO stoppages her last two times out.

At 5’9″, de Randamie was always a tall and lanky bantamweight, and she’ll enjoy slight height and reach advantages over Holm. On the other hand, pure athleticism should be squarely in Holm’s favor, and if de Randamie handles this bout as aggressively as some previous UFC fights, it might play right into Holm’s strengths.

No matter who wins, however, the future is speculative at best.

The most likely scenario for either a Holm or de Randamie championship is that the 145-pound division continues to adopt top challengers on a case-by-case basis, mixing and matching contenders moving up from bantamweight and perhaps the occasional crossover from Invicta.

At worst, women’s featherweight fails to gain any traction, and the UFC ends up scrapping the whole division.

With Cyborg continuing to loom over everything at this weight, we can’t say much for sure until her future is decided. 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Holm vs. De Randamie: Career Stats, Highlights for Both Before UFC 208

The UFC will add a new champion to the fold when Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie close out UFC 208 on Saturday, February 11, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. 
The main event features the latest weight class to be added to the…

The UFC will add a new champion to the fold when Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie close out UFC 208 on Saturday, February 11, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. 

The main event features the latest weight class to be added to the organization as the women’s featherweight division will christen their inaugural champion. 

On one side of the ledger is the woman the UFC is obviously hoping will pave the way for the class. Holm is an accomplished professional boxer who knocked out Ronda Rousey before it became cool. Aside from the 145-pound elephant in the room in Cris Cyborg, she’ll be the biggest star from the outset for the division. 

In the other corner will be a lesser-known talent, but an interesting one nonetheless. De Randamie is a 32-year-old Dutch kickboxer with a world championship background in her own striking discipline. 

It all makes up for an interesting striker vs. striker matchup for a UFC title looking for its first owner. Here’s a look at how the two stack up statistically, along with a look at how each fighter got to this point and a prediction for the bout. 

 

 

Holly Holm: The Once and Future Queen?

Holly Holm‘s rise and fall as the champion of the women’s bantamweight division is one of the most rapid in the history of the UFC. The former boxer burst onto the scene with an improbable demolition of Ronda Rousey, only to be upended herself by Miesha Tate. 

It has Holm in a sudden career crossroads. After starting her career off at a perfect 10-0, she now sits with a two-fight losing streak. 

Yet, the creation of the featherweight division has given her a chance to re-emerge on the title scene. It’s a situation that has created a real sense of pressure for the 35-year-old. 

“There’s a lot of pressure,” Holm said, per Jed Meshew of MMA Fighting. “What is Holly going to do now at 145 coming off two losses? She’s never been here before. She’s coming off the highlight of her career [against Rousey] to two losses in a row. The most unsuccessful year of my entire fighting career.”

As accomplished as Holm is, the win over Rousey was never indicative of who she is as a fighter. Holm‘s superior striking ability manifested itself in the form of a vicious knockout win over Rousey, but the truth is she’s never been much of a knockout artist. 

As a boxer, only nine of Holm‘s 33 wins came by way of knockout. The finish of Rousey is still the only knockout that she has under the UFC banner. 

Holm is at her best when she’s able to stick opponents at the end of her jab and kicks, utilizing her movement and combinations to outpoint opponents over the course of five rounds. 

It’s something she hasn’t been able to do the last two times out. Tate ultimately caught her in a submission, while Valentina Shevchenko was able to force Holm into being more aggressive than she’d like to be and did more damage from the outside. 

It all sets the stage for an interesting bit as de Randamie has the length to put Holm on the outside as well. 

If it’s Holm‘s goal to be known as more than the woman who beat Ronda Rousey, now is the time for her to carve out a new legacy. 

 

Germaine de Randamie: The Unlikely UFC Title Contender

Germaine de Randamie may be the most little known contender for a UFC title in the promotion’s history. 

The Dutch kickboxer is ranked No. 10 in the women’s bantamweight division, which isn’t even the deepest to begin with. Her three wins in the UFC have come against women who have yet to win a fight under the UFC banner, and she was beaten in the first round by Amanda Nunes in the only fight she has against a fighter who is currently ranked. 

Still, de Randamie brings skills to the table. Her background as a world champion kickboxer is legit, and she has showcased power in her last two bouts, winning by TKO in both. 

De Randamie understands that she comes into this bout as the lesser-known fighter but remains confident that people will know who she is after this fight, per Tim Bissell of Bloody Elbow:

A lot of people have been writing or saying that maybe Holly or I don’t deserve to be there. A lot of people do not know enough about my credentials, or Holly’s, but we have some amazing credentials on our records. At the end of the day, they offered people the fight and Holly and I, we both said, ‘yes.’ So I can only say one thing: a lot of people might not know me right now, but after February 11th, you won’t forget me anymore. You will know who I am. It’s gonna be on hell of a night, and one hell of a fight. That’s one thing I can promise.

“The Iron Lady” was definitely not the woman that most would have thought to be in the first championship bout in the women’s 145-pound division. That honor would belong to Cris Cyborg. However, she is the one getting the call. 

The intriguing thing is that she is one of the fighters who could greatly benefit from the new division. At 5’9″ with a 71″ reach, de Randamie has a long frame that could be better suited at the higher weight where she was 1-1 in Strikeforce. 

She’ll definitely have the opportunity to boost her profile on Saturday night. 

 

Prediction

Holm might be the more well-known fighter, but since opening as a slight favorite, de Randamie has actually become a 4-5 favorite, according to OddsShark

That’s because de Randamie is a nightmare matchup for Holm. Not only does she have more length to actually have success where Holm wants the fight to take place at range, but she also has the power to win a fire fight on the inside. 

The versatility of de Randamie as a striker is why Patrick Wyman of Bleacher Report is picking the muay thai specialist to win the belt:

The sheer technical soundness of de Randamie‘s striking game is hard to overstate. She does all the little things well: Her footwork is outstanding, she pivots and moves beautifully, and she always keeps her feet under her as she throws. Everything she does is efficient with no wasted motion or energy. She’s slick defensively, pulling her head off line as she throws to avoid counters and using crisp parries and blocks.

De Randamie‘s skill set as a striker definitely makes for an uphill battle for Holm. She’s fairly one-dimensional herself and isn’t in too many matchups where she doesn’t have the striking advantage. 

However, it’s still hard to pick The Iron Lady given the discrepancy of talent these two have faced. Holm has wins over quality UFC veterans in Raquel Pennington and Marion Reneau, in addition to her win over Rousey, while de Randamie‘s three-loss resume doesn’t have an impressive win on it.

It could be that de Randamie‘s striking skills shine through and it’s enough for her to get the nod in a decision or even finish Holm. It’s also possible that Holm‘s experience against better competition shows that she’s simply on another level than de Randamie.

Ultimately, both could be true at different times. Holm takes a back-and-forth decision, although de Randamie will have her moments as the featherweight division kicks off with a dynamic championship bout.

Prediction: Holm by decision  

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Holly Holm, Anderson Silva Listed As Betting Underdogs For UFC 208 Fights

With Saturday’s UFC 208: Holm vs. de Randamie pay-per-view less than two days away, the betting lines for the fights scheduled for the first-ever UFC event in Brooklyn, New York are starting to see movement. According to the odds on the official UFC website, Germaine de Randamie is a betting favorite over former UFC Women’s […]

With Saturday’s UFC 208: Holm vs. de Randamie pay-per-view less than two days away, the betting lines for the fights scheduled for the first-ever UFC event in Brooklyn, New York are starting to see movement. According to the odds on the official UFC website, Germaine de Randamie is a betting favorite over former UFC Women’s […]