While she’s a former UFC champion, Germaine de Randamie often seems to be overlooked when it comes to talking about the sport’s best fighters. “The Iron Lady” doesn’t plan on going away anytime soon.
This past weekend, de Randamie (10-4 MMA, 7-2 UFC) admitted she wasn’t exactly happy with her position on the main card of UFC on ESPN 16, where she and Julianna Pena (9-4 MMA, 5-2 UFC) met underneath a heavyweight co-main event of Carlos Felipe vs. Yorgan De Castro. While she expressed her frustration ahead of time, de Randamie didn’t let it affect her performance, scoring the first submission win of her career by choking Pena unconscious in the third round of their clash.
With the result, de Randamie kept her slot as the No. 2 fighter at women’s bantamweight in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings, just behind reigning UFC champion Amanda Nunes. The Dutch striking specialist also moved up a spot in the women’s pound-for-pound list, settling at No. 10.
Of course, de Randamie wasn’t the only one in the division picking up a big win over the weekend, with another former UFC champ, Holly Holm (14-5 MMA, 7-5 UFC), scoring a dominant decision win over Irene Aldana Irene Aldana (12-6 MMA, 5-4 UFC). With the win, Holm moves up to No. 4 at 135 pounds and re-enters the pound-for-pound list as an honorable mention.
Check out the new look of the women’s rankings in this week’s updated list.