UFC 245 Results: Amanda Nunes Dominates Germaine de Randamie, Survives Fourth Round Scare

By
Josh Evanoff
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Amanda Nunes UFC
Credit: Rodney James Edgar/Cageside Press

Amanda Nunes had to survive once or twice, but she would retain her title at UFC 245, defeating Germaine De Randamie with a dominating grappling display.

Three title fights adorned the UFC 245 card, and Amanda Nunes vs. Germaine de Randamie was the first of them. The UFC’s first double-champion was putting her bantamweight title on the line against the former featherweight champion de Randamie, making this something of a compelling match-up. The pair had met once before, with Nunes earning a TKO win in 2013.

De Randamie opens with some low kicks but gets quickly backed up after Nunes tags her with a right hand. De Randamie throws a kick to the body that gets caught, and Nunes lands a quick right against the cage. De Randamie looks to throw a combination and gets taken down as a result, but she quickly rises up and Nunes goes for a guillotine. It looks deep, but De Randamie fights out of it and gets the fight up against the fence briefly before Nunes gets another takedown.

Nunes being heavy from the top, throwing lots of ground strikes but De Randamie doing a good job of covering up. Nunes goes for an arm-triangle, but De Randamie escapes. The horn would soon save De Randamie after a dominating first round by Amanda Nunes.

Nunes looking good coming out for the second round, not gassed at all. De Randamie swings for the fences to start the round, lands a good right hand and uppercut. Nunes with a beautiful level-change to get the fight to the mat again. A super quick standup from the guard as Nunes is throwing punches, wow. De Randamie throws a kick that rocks Nunes, then gets the fight into the clinch were De Randamie lands a giant knee. Nunes gets another takedown to end the round in top position. What a round, De Randamie had Nunes hurt and Nunes seemed gassed going into round three.

Nunes keeps whiffing on the big right hands that she’s throwing, but it doesn’t matter as she opens the third with the fifth takedown of the fight. Crowd gets restless as Nunes just controlling De Randamie on the ground for a long while. Nunes responds by raining down some elbows. De Randamie not making an effort to get back to the feet, seems content throwing strikes off her back. Nunes stands up from guard, and De Randamie stuns Nunes with an upkick. Nunes recovers and ends the round on top after a big scramble. Nunes wrestling was dominating, but De Randamie had Nunes in far more trouble than we had seen in some time.

Nunes wasted no time getting another takedown to open round four. Nunes doing a great job from the top, not allowing De Randamie to breathe at all. De Randamie gets Nunes in a triangle-armbar and it’s in deep!

Nunes escapes and takes De Randamie down again. Nunes doing little action from the top, as she is exhausted. Referee Keith Peterson spends about two minutes debating if he will stand the fight up or not, he decides against it and Nunes ends the round on top. Nunes having a Khabib-esque performance heading into the fifth round.

Nunes starts the fifth the way she started the fourth, with an early takedown. Nunes not being busy, but she didn’t need to be. De Randamie had no gameplan outside of throwing strikes off of her back or stalling for a stand-up. A bit of an anticlimactic ending, but a dominant performance to retain her women’s bantamweight title. Showing she has more tools in the bag than once thought.

Official Result: Amanda Nunes defeats Germaine De Randamie via unanimous decision (49-44, 49-46, 49-45)

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