Earlier today we reported that Holly Holm and her team were considering appealing her UFC 208 loss to Germaine de Randamie from Brooklyn last weekend (Sat., February 11, 2017), a bout where “The Iron Lady” was seen nailing Holm with some incredibly hard punches after the bell in both the second and third rounds. Word
Earlier today we reported that Holly Holm and her team were considering appealing her UFC 208 loss to Germaine de Randamie from Brooklyn last weekend (Sat., February 11, 2017), a bout where “The Iron Lady” was seen nailing Holm with some incredibly hard punches after the bell in both the second and third rounds.
Word broke from MMAFighting.com that Holm will officially appeal the loss, issuing this statement as part of a full complaint about the officiating job by referee Todd Anderson, an inexperienced MMA official who failed to fully separate the fighters and did not take a point away from de Randamie for either foul:
“We respectfully request the commission review referee Anderson’s failure to assess a foul and render a decision regarding a point deduction following Round 2, and failure to assess a foul and a point deduction following Round 3, and determine an appropriate result.”
Holm’s controversial manager Lenny Fresquez had his own view of the situation, believing Randamie should give Holm a rematch (which she’s already discussed):
“It was blatant. Very blatant. I hope Germaine is a lady of her word and gives Holly the immediate rematch she promised her.”
The New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) reversing the decision at UFC 208’s main event, which was already a highly criticized contest, would be about the only thing that could make the opinions of the card any worse, and would tie up the already uncertain women’s featherweight division with a potential rematch.
But hey, outside of the champion meeting Cris Cyborg (whose return is currently unknown) there aren’t many fights to be made in the division anyway, right?
UFC 208 went down last night (Feb. 11, 2017) live on pay-per-view (PPV) from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, and according to UFC President Dana White, it wasn’t one of the promotion’s best cards. White even went as far to say that the best part of his night was his ‘plane ride home’.
UFC 208 went down last night (Feb. 11, 2017) live on pay-per-view (PPV) from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, and according to UFC President Dana White, it wasn’t one of the promotion’s best cards.
White even went as far to say that the best part of his night was his ‘plane ride home’.
The main event featured the inaugural featherweight title fight between former 135-pound titleholder Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie. De Randamie ended up taking home a decision victory, but it didn’t come without controversy, as she landed multiple strikes after the bell to end rounds.
White criticized the referee for how he handled the situation, saying that he shouldn’t have been in the Octagon:
“I feel that the ref from New York shouldn’t be ref-ing a main event fight,” White told Megan Olivi after the event. “They don’t have enough experience,” White said. “He should not have been in there. But again, we don’t make those decisions, the commission does. That was a bad decision by them. If that guy takes a point for hitting after the bell, it’s a draw — the only possible way this night could be any more (expletive).”
“Everybody was blowing me up on my phone,” he explained. “What’s wrong with this ref is that he doesn’t have big-fight experience like that. None of these guys do from this state yet. He should’ve had one of the experienced MMA refs in there ref-ing the main event.”
Do you agree with White’s assessment of the referee?
Germaine de Randamie may be the new and first-ever UFC women’s featherweight champion, but her history-making win over former women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm (watch full video highlights here) was marred by some highly controversial strikes that came after the bell in not one but two rounds in the main event of last night’s UFC
Germaine de Randamie may be the new and first-ever UFC women’s featherweight champion, but her history-making win over former women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm (watch full video highlights here) was marred by some highly controversial strikes that came after the bell in not one but two rounds in the main event of last night’s UFC 208 from Brooklyn.
‘The Iron Lady’ appeared to rock Holm significantly seconds after the buzzer went off in round two, and many thought that would earn a warning from the ref. But that only came from the official after de Randamie unloaded a sizable combo on ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’ after the alarm sounded in the third round, after which de Randamie immediately acknowledged her fault.
Many have criticized and are still very critical of the officiating, which came from a referee inexperienced in main event title fights in the second-ever major UFC event in New York, including some piled-on bashing from UFC President Dana White. Randamie also didn’t do herself any favors by revealing she would have surgery on her hand to fix an injury suffered three fights ago instead of fighting Crsitiane ‘Cyborg’ Justino if she gets cleared from her recent USADA suspension as expected.
She also didn’t show up for the post-fight press conference to truly arrive on the scene as the first women’s 145-pound, yet still, de Randamie offered an apology to Holm for the late punches in her post-fight interview:
“It wasn’t meant for me to hit her after the bell. It was in the heat of the moment. I apologize. I’m not like that.”
De Randamie addressed the outcome of the fight, which most fans seemed to have belonged to Holm even without a point that should have taken from her. In her opinion, Holm simply didn’t come to fight aside from her third-round head kick, and that was evident in her constant but ultimately unsuccessful clinching:
“It was a close fight. She [caught] me in the third round with a head kick. It was close, but I came to fight and she didn’t want to fight me. I’m a brawler. I want to fight. I hoped she was going to fight with me. Holly is a tremendous champion. I truly respect her. But I love to brawl, I love to fight. Clinching is not my game. But whatever.”
De Randamie will now move on to an uncertain future as the initial champion with most fans believing ‘Cyborg’ to simply be the uncrowned champion of the freshest (but more shallow) women’s landscape.
And it might be quite awhile before we get to see Justino prove that against de Randamie.
Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie went to battle for the first-ever UFC women’s featherweight championship in the main event of tonight’s (February 11, 2017) UFC 208 from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. It turned out to be a back-and-forth battle of technical precision, with both women having their respective moments. Holm rocked ‘The
Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie went to battle for the first-ever UFC women’s featherweight championship in the main event of tonight’s (February 11, 2017) UFC 208 from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
It turned out to be a back-and-forth battle of technical precision, with both women having their respective moments. Holm rocked ‘The Iron Lady’ with a head kick in the third round and a short left hand in the fifth, and also controlled the majority of the clinch work. But she was unable to score even one of her many takedown attempts, and de Randamie clearly landed by far the harder shots with her piston-like straight right hand counter that found a home on many occasions.
There was a bit of controversy when de Randamie hit Holm after the bell had sounded on not one but two rounds, but the NYSAC referee chose not to deduct a point and de Randamie was crowned the champion by one point. Watch the full fight video highlights of de Randamie’s close decision win right here:
The inaugural UFC women’s featherweight champion will be crowned tomorrow night (Sat., Feb. 11, 2017) in the main event of UFC 208 from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York when former bantamweight title holder Holly Holm faces off with Germaine de Randamie. The bout is certainly an interesting one from a stylistic standpoint, as
The inaugural UFC women’s featherweight champion will be crowned tomorrow night (Sat., Feb. 11, 2017) in the main event of UFC 208 from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York when former bantamweight title holder Holly Holm faces off with Germaine de Randamie.
The bout is certainly an interesting one from a stylistic standpoint, as Holm is a former multi-time boxing world champion, while de Randamie is a Dutch kick boxer with a decorated Muay Thai background.
Speaking on the fight earlier this week, de Randamie noted Holm’s toughness, but she also reflected on a time when she fought and knocked out a male fighter, an accomplishment that has clearly boosted her confidence:
“Every fight is the toughest fight of my career. I respect Holly. She’s a tremendous athlete,” de Randamie said during her open workout scrum on Wednesday (via MMA Fighting). “To me it’s such an honor. But I’m ready. If I fought men, I can fight Holly.”
“[He had] 40 pounds [on me]. It was pro boxing, it is what it is. They offered me the fight, he had three pro fights, it was for TV and I’m like, let’s do it.”
“He hit me hard. The first thing I thought when I hit him was damn, better keep my hand up. But he went down, I knocked him out.”
De Randamie also said that she doesn’t expect “The Preacher’s Daughter” to stand and trade shots with her:
“I don’t expect her to stand and trade,” de Randamie said. “I don’t think that’s her style of fighting. I hope she does. Look at these amazing people, they want to see us bang it out in the middle of that cage. So let’s do it. Let’s bang it out.”
“I don’t think she will do that, but what I do believe is it’s going to be an amazing fight, and like Mike Tyson said, ‘everybody has a plan, until they get hit in the face.’”
Who do you expect to come out on top tomorrow night?
This Saturday night (February 11, 2017), the UFC is back on pay-per-view (PPV) with UFC 208 from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The event, while not wholly gathering a ton of mainstream attention in MMA, will still go down in history due to the fact that the fist-ever UFC women’s 145-pound champion will
This Saturday night (February 11, 2017), the UFC is back on pay-per-view (PPV) with UFC 208 from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The event, while not wholly gathering a ton of mainstream attention in MMA, will still go down in history due to the fact that the fist-ever UFC women’s 145-pound champion will be crowned when former women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm meets undefeated kickboxing sensation Germaine de Randamie in the main event.
The co-main event presents a potentially hard-hitting slugfest as well when longtime former middleweight champion Anderson Silva returns against bulldozing force Derek Brunson. UFC 208 has certainly had its fair share of criticism for the handling of the women’s featherweight title picture, but nevertheless, the potential for some great MMA action still awaits.
Find out whom we picked to win the main bouts at UFC 208 below.
Holly Holm vs. Germaine de Randamie:
Mike Drahota:
I’ve seen many picking Holm based on her superior level of UFC competition and more active schedule compared to de Randamie’s, and I understand where those picks are coming from. However, I just don’t think we’ve ever really seen Holm do anything but play it safe outside of her defining win over Ronda Rousey, and it was clear she had Rousey hurt early on in that bout. There’s no doubting her world-class boxing skills, and de Randamie will certainly provide more opportunities for her to counter-strike than her last opponent, fellow counter-striker Valentina Shevchenko, did, but I’m not convinced Holm has the power or will to let it all hang out and truly put on a show for fans. De Randamie is truly a dark horse here; and one with arguably an equally decorated background in Muay Thai compared to that of Holm in boxing. I think de Randamie makes this fight ugly in the clinch and puts Holm in some bad spots. De Randamie by fourth-round TKO.
Rory Kernaghan:
Although de Randamie has some very nice striking, I don’t see Holm dropping her third fight in a row. ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’ is about as seasoned a striker as you’ll get in the MMA world. Although I can’t imagine a devastating head kick KO like we saw against Ronda Rousey, I do think Holm will control the action. ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’ has been fighting higher caliber competition, and has the nice, rangy counter striking to frustrate “The Iron Lady.” Holm by decision.
Mike Henken:
I expect this fight to play out on the feet, although it is a difficult one to predict for me. Holm, the former UFC bantamweight champion, is a decorated former boxer and kick boxer, while de Randamie’s strength lies in her Muay Thai. Neither fighter relies much on her grappling, although I’d expect Holm to be more well rounded in that area given the fact that she trains with highly-touted head coach Greg Jackson. “The Preacher’s Daughter” has lost two straight since winning the 135-pound title in Nov. 2015, but de Randamie has faced few fighters of Holm’s caliber in mixed martial arts. I expect the former champion to be the more experienced fighter and to be more acclimated to the pressure of headlining an event and fighting for a title. Of course anything can happen in a bout between two strikers, but I’m going to go with “The Preacher’s Daughter”. Holm by unanimous decision.
Anderson Silva vs. Derek Brunson:
Mike Drahota:
This is truly a hard fight to predict for me, because while it’s nearly impossible not to root for the legendary Silva, he’s clearly seen better days in his illustrious career (it would impossible not to be in that spot at 41 years). However, I also think his demise has been greatly exaggerated, as he’s lost to only champions during his streak of four losses and one no contest, and he also was close to knocking out the middleweight and light heavyweight champions in under six months. Not bad for an old man.
But he’s tasked with a bulldozing one-man wrecking crew in Brunson, a power slugger who’s said he’s going to fight much more patiently after losing an all-out brawl to Robert Whittaker last November. His style is both tailor-made for Silva’s lethal counterstriking and his kryptonite, as we can’t be sure where the aging fighter’s chin is truly at. That makes this an unpredictable and potentially scintillating bout to be certain; one where I can’t help but feel ‘The Spider’ has one last run in him. I think he can still catch Brunson rushing in. Silva by second-round TKO.
Rory Kernaghan:
Predicting Anderson Silva’s fights used to be quite simple. Back when ‘The Spider’ was king of the middleweight division, he was almost like the neighborhood bully who grew quicker than the rest of the kids. Since Weidman, it’s been anyone’s bet, and Brunson has some very threatening tools. Capable of using his wrestling as well as KO power in the hands, Brunson could very well seal Silva’s retirement. Obviously the stand-up is where Silva wants to keep this, but he very nearly came unstuck against Bisping, who rocked and dropped the ex-champ numerous times. Gut feeling pick from me, Brunson with a heart-wrenching knockout in round one.
Mike Henken:
Although I’ll admit that I’m a lifelong Silva fan, I’m not oblivious as to where he’s at during this stage of his career. The 41-year-old former champion hasn’t won a fight since 2012, and he’s lost four of his last five bouts. His chin has clearly deteriorated over time, which may be an issue against the heavy hitting Brunson. Silva has also had issues stopping takedowns, which Brunson could use to advantage. At the end of the day, however, I’m going to pick “The Spider” The Brazilian will certainly need to avoid the takedown as well as the big shots, but Brunson has tended to get wild in the past. Silva has always had success as a counterpuncher, using his speed and incredible timing to catch fighters charging in, which is what I expect to see here. Silva by second-round TKO.
