Getting to know Germaine 'The Iron Lady' de Randamie
Germaine de Randamie (8-3) has fought only once since winning a UFC belt in 2017 by beating Holly Holm, but “The Iron Lady” is back in action Saturday and headlining UFC Sacramento. After the Dutchwoman’s big 2017 win over Holm, she had surgery on her hand and then suffered and battled through an eye injury that she says temporarily blinded her with nerve damage and nearly ended her career.
De Randamie battled back to fight and win once more last November, over Raquel Pennington. The powerful Dutch Kickboxing stylist returns this week against Aspen Ladd (8-0), an undefeated contender over a decade younger than de Randamie.
Read and watch on, below, to learn a little more about this exciting former champion as she continues her quest to earn gold once more.
De Randamie hasn’t lost since 2013, to the GOAT Amanda Nunes. The striker came up against future two-division world champion Amanda Nunes in November of 2013 and lost via TKO in the first round.
Since then, however, de Randamie has rattled off four-straight wins, including two by stoppage.
De Randamie “went through hell” to come back from a hand and eye injury following her UFC title win over Holm in 2017.
The three-sport athlete says she believed that her career would be ended by a freak accident that caused nerve damage in one of her eyes and left her without full vision for an extended period of time.
“I’ve been through hell and back, and I’m back, and that’s all that matters,” an emotional de Randamie told media members last November, after beating Pennington. “It was a bad injury … I was blind for a long time. I still have some damage.”
De Randamie is older than many of her opponents, but it doesn’t seem to matter. The Dutch warrior is more than 10 years older than her opponent this weekend, but she’s used to being the veteran.
Raquel Pennington is half a decade younger than de Randamie, and Larissa Pacheco is about 11 years her junior. Still, neither woman could keep up with de Randamie.
De Randamie can knock men out.
You may have heard that de Randamie has knocked out men in competition.
If you didn’t believe it, go ahead and watch, above, for yourself. The skilled striker is capable of putting down anyone in the world, period, with her aggressive volume-striking style.
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