It’s been just six days since Germaine de Randamie defeated Holly Holm in the inaugural Women’s UFC Featherweight Championship bout at UFC 208, but the new division may be history come February 17 — as it was announced that de Randamie will hold a media conference call today at 1 p.m. ET.
UFC has announced Germaine de Randamie will host a media conference call tomorrow at 1pm ET.
— Luke Thomas (@SBNLukeThomas) February 16, 2017
Just yesterday the Women’s featherweight rankings were removed from UFC.com, and with no clear challengers waiting for a shot at the belt except a USADA-sidelined Cris Cyborg, it’s been widely speculated that the entire women’s featherweight division will be scrapped.
From a business and PR standpoint, the whole women’s 145-pound division has been a complete botch.
“It’s not really the money division,” said UFC President Dana White last month at a pre-UFC 208 press conference.
“Maybe one of these two (de Randamie or Holm) will win the belt and we’ll find a contender and.. I don’t know… we’ll see how this whole thing plans out,”
It didn’t go well.
Not only was there controversy during the fight, as de Randamie landed strikes after the bell had sounded in two separate rounds, but it didn’t perform well on pay-per-view, either.
Early reports suggest UFC 208 hovered right around 200k PPV buys, a number that would be considered a huge failure by 2017 UFC standards, especially for a championship fight.
It’s becoming clear to the new owners that championship belts and big names don’t sell cards alone, rather it takes extravagant pre-fight promos and larger than life personalities move the needle. The UFC is lacking in both departments right now outside of a few big stars, and the woman weren’t the PPV draw that they hoped would turn things around.
In the aftermath of Saturday night’s inaugural Women’s UFC Featherweight Championship match, de Randamie claimed she was suffering from a hand injury and then opened up on Facebook to address her critics and then called out Holly Holm for a rematch.
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
There is no official word yet on how long Cris Cyborg will be sidelined stemming from her USADA failure a few months ago.
Do you think the Women’s Featherweight Division is history just 6 days into its life cycle or will Cyborg still be able to become 145-pound queen after she is cleared by USADA? Let us know what you think on Twitter @MMA_Newsline!
**** This Story will be updated after de Randamie’s conference call at 1 p.m. ET****
Update: De Randamie used today’s (2/16/17) conference call as a way to voice her frustrations that she previously posted earlier this week on Facebook.
“If Holly believes the point deductions are the reason she lost the fight, and she’s looking to make it a no-contest or a draw, she should simply put out the offer for a rematch I put out,” said GDR. “If she feels that way there’s nothing I can say much about. I respect everyone’s opinion, I truly do. I believe I was the fair winner, I believe I had the better shots, I believe I dominated the standup. I understand Holly is sad she lost the fight. I’m sad certain occasions happened during the fight that was not in my plan and not intentional. … I believe justice will be served and the athletic commission will make the right decision.”
“I never threw any cheap shots around the referee. As soon as he stepped in and put his arm in, I stopped. Of course, I try to hear the bell and stop, but sometimes when you’re in the heat of the moment you’re in the fight. You get hit, you hit somebody.”
Fortunately, depending on how you look at things, the Women’s Featherweight Division will continue — but unfortunately, there is still no clear contender outside of Cris Cyborg and the only other option is a less desirable rematch between GDR and Holly Holm.
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