Come on now, UFC, you can’t pull the wool over our eyes.
Germaine de Randamie’s reign of terror as inaugural UFC women’s featherweight champion has finally come to an end.
The Iron Lady’s stint as UFC champion got off to a woeful start before somehow skidding even further down hill. After taking a highly contentious decision over Holly Holm at UFC 208 to win the belt, she refused to fight number one contender Cyborg, claimed a hand injury would keep her sidelined for an extended period, hinted at dropping back down to bantamweight and even suggested retirement may be on the cards.
De Randamie showed no signs that she wanted to keep the division moving, so the promotion stripped GDR of her belt and booked Cyborg vs Invicta featherweight queen Megan Anderson for the vacant title at UFC 214.
It's about bloody time #UFC214 https://t.co/YBeeixctW1
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) June 19, 2017
We’re not going to act like we’re upset about de Randamie having her title relinquished. In our books, she was an awful champion.
However, the UFC could have chosen their words more carefully with their statement regarding the news. Considering what’s been happening in the promotion very recently, it reads like a massive troll job.
“UFC maintains that any champion is expected to accept fights against the top contenders in their respective weight classes in order to maintain the integrity of the sport.”
Firstly, this ‘failing to accept fights against top contenders in your weight class’ rule doesn’t apply to champions like Conor McGregor and Michael Bisping.
When McGregor held the featherweight title he was allowed to hold up the division by having not one, but two welterweight bouts against Nate Diaz after his lightweight title fight fell through. When he successfully exacted revenge upon the Stockton native, he was granted his 155 lb title shot, only to be stripped of the featherweight strap after UFC 205.
Rather than take on any of the top middleweight contenders after knocking out Luke Rockhold, Bisping was given the opportunity to seek retribution against a retiring Dan Henderson before being booked against returning welterweight great Georges St-Pierre for his next defence.
Plus, there’s the whole mess that’s currently happening in the flyweight division right now.
Sad but true https://t.co/cZV7W7IXF8
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) March 15, 2017
While the UFC merely allowed “the Notorious” and “the Count” to break that unwritten rule to pursue money fights, they are actively trying to convince their flyweight champion to not adhere to it.
Demetrious Johnson has refused to immediately agree to a title defence against former UFC bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw, who has never fought in the UFC’s flyweight division before.
Johnson was under the impression that he was fighting Ray Borg next, an actual ranked 125 lber. He claims that he wanted certain guarantees before accepting a risky bout with Dillashaw while he’s on the cusp of breaking Anderson Silva’s consecutive defence record.
The back-and-forth between Mighty Mouse and Dana White through the media has only been getting uglier since this dispute started.
