UFC Fight Night 115 (a.k.a. UFC Rotterdam) has had a former champion added to the card. The most recent former champion, in fact. Recently stripped UFC women’s featherweight champion Germaine de Randamie, a native of the Netherlands, has been added to the September card. She’ll face Marion Reneau at the event in her return to the bantamweight division. The UFC announced the news Thursday.
She's back! @IronLadyMMA returns to bantamweight at #UFCRotterdam vs. @BelizeanBruiser!
Pre-Sale Code: UFCSOCIAL ➡️ https://t.co/2U4bjPcBg2 pic.twitter.com/bS8ZtfHIja
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) July 20, 2017
“The Iron Lady” won the inaugural UFC Women’s featherweight championship in February in a controversial decision win over Holly Holm in the main event of UFC 208. The bout featured de Randamie hitting Holm after the bell between rounds on two separate occasions, but no points were deducted for the infractions.
Subsequently, de Randamie refused to meet top women’s featherweight Cris Cyborg, resulting in her title being stripped several weeks ago. Cyborg will now face Tonya Evinger for the vacant 145lb title at UFC 214 later this month.
In Reneau, de Randamie meets the women’s bantamweight division’s oldest competitor. “The Belizean Bruiser,” who moonlights as a Phys Ed teacher, is 7–3–1 overall in her career, and enters UFC Fight Night 115 off a draw against Bethe Correia at UFC Fight Night 106.
de Randamie (7–3) is currently on a three fight win streak, counting her upset of Holly Holm for the 145lb title.
UFC Rotterdam is headlined by a heavyweight showdown between “The Skyscraper” Stefan Struve and Alexander Volkov. The card takes place September 2 at the Ahoy Rotterdam arena in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
