UFC 208 Holly Holm vs Germaine de Randamie: First-ever female featherweight champion to be decided

The UFC returns to New York this weekend and the main event will crown its first ever female featherweight champion. Since Ronda Rousey took over the sport a few years ago, and female athletes were added to the UFC roster, the women’s divisions have been going from strength to strength.

The establishment of the bantamweight division has drawn a lot of talent to the UFC. Since then we have also been treated to a strawweight division, where current champion, Poland’s Joanna Jedrzejczyk looks unstoppable.

In this weekend’s main event though, a former bantamweight champion - the first person to beat Ronda Rousey - will attempt to become the first female UFC athlete to win belts in two weight classes.

It’s no surprise that the fighter attempting this feat is Holly Holm, one of the most decorated female boxers in history. She was a multiple time, multiple weight boxing world champion, and since crossing over to MMA she has looked equally as impressive. Stepping up a weight class will allow Holm to fight at a more comfortable weight for her frame and will likely look even stronger. Her opponent will be enjoying the same addition of 10 pounds on her oversized bantamweight frame.

Germaine de Randamie went 46 fights in Muay Thai without being beaten and is a multiple time world champion herself. Adding a UFC title to her record would be the crowning glory on an already impressive career.

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Both of these ladies are excellent strikers. Holm preparing at the Jackson-Wink academy alongside great fighters like Cowboy Cerrone, Jon Jones and Cub Swanson, will have a lot of great experience to draw from. Having settled at that gym at the beginning of her career, the working relationship that she has with her coaches is something cultivated over many training camps, and a lot of title attempts and defences. They will have studied Germaine thoroughly and will have devised a game plan which will guide her preparations. In the other corner, the Dutch athlete will be focused primarily on her own offensive and preparing for no other outcome than a dominant victory and a new belt for her collection.

They are quite different approaches but both have been proven to work for each individual. If this does in fact end up being a striking affair then I would expect Holm to threaten the takedown just to make Germaine a little hesitant to attack. Whether she plans on coming in and using her grappling skills or not, we don’t know. Although de Randamie will always favour a kickboxing match, she seems confident in her new and improved ground skills in recent interviews. No matter how this fight plays out, the introduction of a female featherweight division and the crowning of its inaugural champion is very exciting. There are many strong and exciting athletes that will soon join the new division and further the popularity of female MMA.

Supporting this historic main event are some of the brightest stars in the middleweight division. The great Anderson Silva will be stepping into the Octagon again, this time taking on the reckless power of Derek Brunson. With slick and accurate striking skills, Silva has despatched some of the best fighters we’ve ever seen in the UFC. What is even more impressive though, is how he does it. His timing, coupled with his ability to read, program and trap a fighter is really something to behold. I can’t imagine there are many professional fighters, even at the top of the sport, that haven’t watched Anderson at work and been in awe.

At 41 years old, Silva has a wealth of experience when compared to other fighters on the roster. Although its likely he is isn’t as quick or agile as he was in his prime, he can still school most of the fighters in the division. Brunson has been on a roll of late, and looked to be a contender in the near future until he ran into Robert Whitaker at the end of last year. His five first-round finishes that lead to the Whittaker match-up filled him with an over-confidence that caused him to charge forward and chase the knockout when he saw his opponent was rocked. He ultimately paid for it and that night Whittaker was the one walking away with the win bonus.

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He was quite candid about it in post-fight interviews, and saw the error of his ways immediately. It was a useful lesson to learn before facing one of the most talented kick boxers we’ve seen in the Octagon. If Brunson remembers his advantage is in youth and wrestling experience, he will push an early pace and attempt to crowd Silva, taking away many of the Brazilian’s obvious advantages. Brunson has a thunderous left hand and his aggressive style would force Silva to defend early, take some of the gas out of his tank and push Brunson ahead on the scorecards. A win for either fighter moves them significantly closer to the title, but there is so much more to be gained by Brunson with a win over a legend like Anderson.

Just before that we have Tim Boetsch and Jacare Souza locking horns for the next step up in the same division. Jacare has been in title conversation for some time, but seems to not be able to get that one fight that he needs to establish himself as the number one contender. His rematch with Luke Rockhold, set to take place last December, would have been that marquee victory, but an injury to Rockhold laid those plans to waste. Now the tough veteran, Boetsch will take on the challenge that most fighters would shy away from. If he is to beat Jacare he can make up a lot of ground, and find himself in some very important contender fights in his next outings.

Watch UFC 208: Holm vs de Randamie live on BT Sport 2 from 1am GMT on the morning of Sunday February 12th, or catch the Early Prelims exclusively on UFC Fight Pass from 11:30pm GMT on Saturday February 11th