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#3: De Randamie makes her case
After her farcical run as UFC Women’s Featherweight champion ended with her relinquishing her title rather than fight Cris Cyborg, few UFC fans were expecting to hear much more from Germaine de Randamie. The Dutch striker had withdrawn from two straight fights since, and when she was matched with tough former title challenger Raquel Pennington here, it sounded disastrous for her.
Surprisingly though, she put on probably the most impressive performance of her UFC career. Despite missing weight by 3 pounds – something the UFC powerbrokers may yet hold against her going forward – de Randamie looked fantastic in the Octagon, easily outpointing Pennington for a unanimous decision.
‘Rocky’ simply couldn’t get anything going, as she found herself outgunned by a better striker from range – something to be expected – but she was also well beaten in the clinch, and couldn’t take de Randamie down to get her ground work going either.
Considering how tough Pennington looked against Amanda Nunes – arguably the best female fighter in MMA right now – in May, it was a surprise to see her smacked around by ‘The Iron Lady’ like this. With her win, de Randamie made a case for being considered a title challenger at 135lbs – something few fans would’ve expected coming in.
