Dana White had said last week that the UFC would be moving forward with adding a Woman ‘s Featherweight division with or without Cris “Cyborg”; who has been handed the short straw.
Former UFC woman’s Bantamweight and multiple time Boxing World Champion Holly “The Preacher’s Daughter” Holm (10-2) will face Dutch Striker Germaine “The Iron Lady” De Randamie (6-2) February 11th, in Brooklyn, NY, for the chance to enter history as the first ever UFC Woman’s Featherweight champion; and for Holm a opportunity to be the first female fighter in UFC history to win titles in two weight classes.
Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino the widely ranked as number 1 Woman’s Featherweight in the world, recently said she is unwilling to take any fight on less then twelve weeks notice and with UFC 208 less then 9 weeks away, Holm and De Randamie will battle each instead of one meeting “Cyborg”. According to UFC President both Holm and De Randmie, had accepted face Justino, who is a former Strikeforce and current Invicta FC Featherweight champion. A fighter who has been at odds with the UFC for quite some time, over the promotion wanting her to move down a weight-class to Bantamweight (135 lbs.), while she was campaigning for the Featherweight (145 lbs.) division to be added to the UFC Roster. Justino is 2-0 in the octagon at 140 lbs, with TKO’s of Leslie Smith and Lina Lansberg.
In 2015, Holm a JacksonWink trained fighter, debuted in the UFC and then did the unimaginable, in violently dethroning Ronda Rousey as UFC Woman’s Bantamweight champion. 2016 was not as good to Holm who lost the UFC title to Miesha Tate by being choke unconscious, 90 seconds before the fight would have went to a decision, that seemed to have Holm ahead of the score cards. Four months later Holm would suffer her second MMA loss, a decision to Valentina Shevchenko, in the main event of UFC on Fox 20; a fight where Holm also broke a hand. According to the records I could find Holm hasn’t fought at 145 lbs. since going full time in MMA.
Germaine De Randamie expand-es her MMA game at the San Jose, California, American Kickboxing Academy. De Randamie has fought twice at Featherweight, last time being in 2012. “The Iron Lady” is on a 2 fight win streak with a TKO Larissa Pacheco at UFC 185 and a KO of Anna Elmose at UFC Fight Night 87, in he native Netherlands.
WFW Title: Germaine de Randamie (7-3) vs. Holly Holm (10-2)
LHW: Jared Cannonier (9-1) vs. Glover Teixeira (25-5)
FlyW: Ian McCall (13-5-1) vs. Neil Seery (16-12)
WW: Randy Brown (9-1) vs. George Sullivan (17-5)
WW: Roan Carneiro (21-10) vs. Ryan LaFlare (12-1)
HW: Luis Henrique (10-2) vs. Marcin Tybura (14-2)
