Germaine de Randamie's reign as women's featherweight champion has been steeped in controversy since the moment it began.
Squaring off with former bantamweight Holly Holm in the main event of Saturday's #UFC208 event, de Randamie emerged victorious via a razor-thin decision made all the more controversial by the pair of shots "The Iron Lady" landed on Holm after the bell in both the second and third round. But after receiving criticism from both Miesha Tate and Holm the latter of whom called the hits "intentional and after the bell" de Randamie took to Facebook this morning to defend herself.
UFC champ Germaine de Randamie insists she's not a dirty fighter and says she wants to give Holly Holm a rematch to clear all controversy. pic.twitter.com/Aowm2TmjSk
Mike Bohn (@MikeBohnMMA) February 13, 2017
"I AM NOT a dirty fighter," wrote de Randamie.
"I have always trained trained to fight to the end or until the referee steps in. Never did I punch around or over the referee to deliver a cheap shot on Holly."
For what it's worth, legendary ref Big John McCarthy seems to be in agreement with de Randamie.
@thomaskirkbrid1 the round officially ends at the call of the referee. The bell is their notification
Big John McCarthy (@JohnMcCarthyMMA) October 27, 2014
So the bell doesn't actually mean that the round is over...I guess...which has never been discussed or even acknowledged in the 24-year history of mixed martial arts prior to last weekend...
As they say, sometimes these things happen in MMA. I suppose the silver lining here is that both de Randamie and Holm have agreed to fight again in order to clear up any controversy. Don't expect to see Dana White billing it as the main event of a pay-per-view again, though.
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