The UFC will add a new champion to the fold when Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie close out UFC 208 on Saturday, February 11, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The main event features the latest weight class to be added to the organization as the women's featherweight division will christen their inaugural champion.
On one side of the ledger is the woman the UFC is obviously hoping will pave the way for the class. Holm is an accomplished professional boxer who knocked out Ronda Rousey before it became cool. Aside from the 145-pound elephant in the room in Cris Cyborg, she'll be the biggest star from the outset for the division.
In the other corner will be a lesser-known talent, but an interesting one nonetheless. De Randamie is a 32-year-old Dutch kickboxer with a world championship background in her own striking discipline.
It all makes up for an interesting striker vs. striker matchup for a UFC title looking for its first owner. Here's a look at how the two stack up statistically, along with a look at how each fighter got to this point and a prediction for the bout.
Holly Holm: The Once and Future Queen?
Holly Holm's rise and fall as the champion of the women's bantamweight division is one of the most rapid in the history of the UFC. The former boxer burst onto the scene with an improbable demolition of Ronda Rousey, only to be upended herself by Miesha Tate.
It has Holm in a sudden career crossroads. After starting her career off at a perfect 10-0, she now sits with a two-fight losing streak.
Yet, the creation of the featherweight division has given her a chance to re-emerge on the title scene. It's a situation that has created a real sense of pressure for the 35-year-old.
“There’s a lot of pressure,” Holm said, per Jed Meshew of MMA Fighting. “What is Holly going to do now at 145 coming off two losses? She’s never been here before. She’s coming off the highlight of her career [against Rousey] to two losses in a row. The most unsuccessful year of my entire fighting career."
As accomplished as Holm is, the win over Rousey was never indicative of who she is as a fighter. Holm's superior striking ability manifested itself in the form of a vicious knockout win over Rousey, but the truth is she's never been much of a knockout artist.
As a boxer, only nine of Holm's 33 wins came by way of knockout. The finish of Rousey is still the only knockout that she has under the UFC banner.
Holm is at her best when she's able to stick opponents at the end of her jab and kicks, utilizing her movement and combinations to outpoint opponents over the course of five rounds.
It's something she hasn't been able to do the last two times out. Tate ultimately caught her in a submission, while Valentina Shevchenko was able to force Holm into being more aggressive than she'd like to be and did more damage from the outside.
It all sets the stage for an interesting bit as de Randamie has the length to put Holm on the outside as well.
If it's Holm's goal to be known as more than the woman who beat Ronda Rousey, now is the time for her to carve out a new legacy.
Germaine de Randamie: The Unlikely UFC Title Contender
Germaine de Randamie may be the most little known contender for a UFC title in the promotion's history.
The Dutch kickboxer is ranked No. 10 in the women's bantamweight division, which isn't even the deepest to begin with. Her three wins in the UFC have come against women who have yet to win a fight under the UFC banner, and she was beaten in the first round by Amanda Nunes in the only fight she has against a fighter who is currently ranked.
Still, de Randamie brings skills to the table. Her background as a world champion kickboxer is legit, and she has showcased power in her last two bouts, winning by TKO in both.
De Randamie understands that she comes into this bout as the lesser-known fighter but remains confident that people will know who she is after this fight, per Tim Bissell of Bloody Elbow:
A lot of people have been writing or saying that maybe Holly or I don't deserve to be there. A lot of people do not know enough about my credentials, or Holly's, but we have some amazing credentials on our records. At the end of the day, they offered people the fight and Holly and I, we both said, ‘yes.’ So I can only say one thing: a lot of people might not know me right now, but after February 11th, you won't forget me anymore. You will know who I am. It's gonna be on hell of a night, and one hell of a fight. That's one thing I can promise.
"The Iron Lady" was definitely not the woman that most would have thought to be in the first championship bout in the women's 145-pound division. That honor would belong to Cris Cyborg. However, she is the one getting the call.
The intriguing thing is that she is one of the fighters who could greatly benefit from the new division. At 5'9" with a 71" reach, de Randamie has a long frame that could be better suited at the higher weight where she was 1-1 in Strikeforce.
She'll definitely have the opportunity to boost her profile on Saturday night.
Prediction
Holm might be the more well-known fighter, but since opening as a slight favorite, de Randamie has actually become a 4-5 favorite, according to OddsShark.
That's because de Randamie is a nightmare matchup for Holm. Not only does she have more length to actually have success where Holm wants the fight to take place at range, but she also has the power to win a fire fight on the inside.
The versatility of de Randamie as a striker is why Patrick Wyman of Bleacher Report is picking the muay thai specialist to win the belt:
The sheer technical soundness of de Randamie's striking game is hard to overstate. She does all the little things well: Her footwork is outstanding, she pivots and moves beautifully, and she always keeps her feet under her as she throws. Everything she does is efficient with no wasted motion or energy. She's slick defensively, pulling her head off line as she throws to avoid counters and using crisp parries and blocks.
De Randamie's skill set as a striker definitely makes for an uphill battle for Holm. She's fairly one-dimensional herself and isn't in too many matchups where she doesn't have the striking advantage.
However, it's still hard to pick The Iron Lady given the discrepancy of talent these two have faced. Holm has wins over quality UFC veterans in Raquel Pennington and Marion Reneau, in addition to her win over Rousey, while de Randamie's three-loss resume doesn't have an impressive win on it.
It could be that de Randamie's striking skills shine through and it's enough for her to get the nod in a decision or even finish Holm. It's also possible that Holm's experience against better competition shows that she's simply on another level than de Randamie.
Ultimately, both could be true at different times. Holm takes a back-and-forth decision, although de Randamie will have her moments as the featherweight division kicks off with a dynamic championship bout.
Prediction: Holm by decision