Germaine de Randamie defeated Holly Holm to become the first UFC Women's Featherweight Champion at UFC 208.
UFC 208 was hosted at The Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York and the stage was set to crown a new UFC champion. Former Bantamweight champion Holly Holm looked to avoid her third loss in a row while her opponent de Randamie looked for her third win in a row. Both Holm and de Randemie had been rumored to fight Cristiane "Cyborg" Justino, who was in the audience, but UFC decided to do the first featherweight bout without Justino.
Both fighters came to the octagon with a striking pedigree. Holm was a champion boxer and de Randemie was a Muay Thai champion. The fight was contested on the feet as expected, but a lot of the fight took place in the clinch and against the cage. Fightful Correspondent David Tees provided a play-by-play of the crucial fourth round on his live coverage and discussion at FightfulMMA.com.
"The round begins with Holm attacking De Randamie with a series of kicks, Holm grabs De Randamie and she holds her against the cage wall while looking for the takedown. The referee decides to separate the fighters for inactivity, the action resumes with Holm attacking De Randamie with a variety of kicks. De Randamie starts nailing Holm with some leg kicks, Holm cracks an incoming De Randamie with a straight left. De Randamie nails Holm with a kick to the midsection a short time later, Holm again puts De Randamie against the cage wall. The fighters exchange some strikes while in the clinch, the fighters exchange knee strikes as the round ends," wrote Tees.
De Randamie was victorious via unanimous decision; the scorecards read 48-47 from all three judges. There were two instances of punches by de Randamie after the round horn sounded. After the fight she would say the punches were in the heat of the moment and she did not intend on hurting Holm with an illegal strike. Joe Rogan would bring up Justino to de Randamie and she said she would face her and anyone ele the UFC brings to the featherweight division. Justino is facing a potential suspension because of a USADA violation.
FightfulMMA hosted a podcast immediately after the event.
